#boy dies. gets trapped in the land of the dead and is being hunted down by the wild hunt after refusing to join their ranks

[kurokoros]

currently thinking about this weird, macabre midwest aesthetic script I'm outlining

[luneesv]

can't get rid of you - peeta mellark

peeta mellark x male!reader

after you volunteered for prim, you're now the new tribute of district twelve, with Peeta. you were in love with him since you were a child.. now you had to fight him on the arena of the 74th Hunger Games

[english isn't my first language]

this story was originally posted on wattpad

part 1 - the forest (this one)

part 2 - the bread (click here !)

part 3 - the fire (click here !)

-

The sun had just risen, you had been awake for at least an hour. Your hands were rubbing the wall in search of action . You finally decide to get up, you put on patched pants and a shirt. You glanced at Katniss and Prim who were still sleeping. They weren't your sisters but after the death of your father and theirs you started living with them. Their mother was in the living room, she had fallen asleep in front of the window. You will never be thankful enough for all the things they done for you. You opened the door and a great cool wind ruffles your hair. You walk slowly towards the forest. As you walk you see no one. Today is the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games. Either the people are getting ready or they are resting a bit more. Some people smile at you. You're famous enough here, to survive the winter you sold the animals you manage to hunt with Katniss. You miss those times. You arrive in front of the fences. They should be electrified but you're not stupid. You manage to sneak in and continue walking until you reach the entrance to the forest. You search a few trees before you found the right one. You take the bow that your father gave you before he died. Next is Katniss's but you didn't want to wake her. In these times she's the only one hunting, people in the village are just asking for your help, you don't even have time to hang out with Katniss anymore. So you wanted to give them a present, just before the reaping. You could be chosen but the odds were so slim that you didn't care. Or course, your name is inscribed in most of the papers but like almost all of the seam. The only one who was anxious was Prim. But Katniss was going to reassure her, you were sure of it.

You throw an arrow at a bird you don't recognize but it lands on the tree next to it. You were too tall. All the animals could see you coming. You came from the seam, so let's say that you rarely eat a lot. But by hunting a lot and running you get to be fit. Usually it's Katniss who hunts and you who carry the beasts or trap them. But you have no choice, so you take off your shoes, duck down and try to keep the noise down as you shoot another arrow at a deer. The first of the year. The arrow lands in its head and it falls to the ground before it can try to escape. You raise your head to the sky, the sky was beautiful. It had taken an orange color and the clouds made everything majestic. You were glad you were alive for these moments. You walk slowly towards the deer and carry it on your back. You continue your walk until you pass by the traps you placed last week. You found a rabbit and a squirrel. You smile as you put them in a leather bag that was soon to die from the condition. You take one last look at the forest. A melancholic look as if you felt you weren't going to be able to hunt there for a long time. You come in through a different place. A street that separates the city from the seam. This street is very special for you. After your father died you were hiding there. Your mother was already dead and you didn't know what the peacekeepers was going to do with you So you hid here. You were going to starve, you rummaged through the trash cans looking for food but you found nothing. You were sitting in front of the bakery, you were exhausted and it was raining so much. You saw blurry and you felt the cold freezing you. Until you hear a voice, two voices. A woman one and a little boy one. You were trying to figure out who these people were. You saw after a few seconds of concentrating a boy who was being yelled at by his mother.

- how stupid are you Peeta ! You burned all the breads ! she said before slapping him in front of me, throw them to the pigs.

And so did he, but at one point he noticed me. I remember his look, people often looked at you but with a disgusted or insignificant look. But he looked at you with tenderness. He looked worriedly towards the bakery and he sighed after seeing that his mother was busy talking with his father. He threw you a loaf, then two. You took them in your hands, the buns were hot but it warmed you up and for the first time in weeks you really had to eat. You ate a little of one of the bread, and stuff the rest before you run off. As you ran, you gave him a grateful look. As you ran you heard his mother yelling even louder. She had noticed that he had given you bread.

This feeling of guilt knowing he got beat up just for you, is always present when you walk here.

You walk towards the bakery, you open the door and you find the boy's father.

- you're already awake son ?

- yea, i hunted to wake me up before the reaping. you said while looking at the cakes in the windows, do you want a squirrel sir ?

He looks at you and nod, you reach into your bag to pull out a squirrel wrapped in a large tree leaf.

- what do you want in exchange ?

- uhm.. 2 loaves please.

- one. he said coldly.

You nodded and he hands you a loaf of bread.

- thanks sir.

- so are you ready for the reaping ?

- i guess nobody is ever ready, right ? you laughed, you try not to talk about the reaping, you don't like that.

- if you say so.

You smile at him vaguely before getting out of the bakery. You peek at the pigs, and you saw the boy who carried bags of flour towards the inside. You smiled at him even thought he couldn't see you.

You're heading home, the sun was completely up and the sky was a blue that hurt your eyes. Everyone was up and people were walking towards the center of town. You open the door of your house and you put the deet in the table as you discover Katniss who was dressing Prim for the reaping. They were beautiful.

- look at both of you ! You're all so pretty.

Prim ran over to hug you as Katniss smiled at you.

- go get dressed y/n. Katniss laughed.

- I put you an outfit on your bed, it was your father's. Whispered the mother of the girls you just noticed.

- thanks.

You left the living room to walk slowly around your room. The more time passed the more anxious you were. You discovered a slightly worn but still white shirt and black pants. You have never seen such beautiful clothes. You were used to worn out clothes. You undressed and you washed yourself. You rubbed your naked body still aching from yesterday when you had spent the day carrying provisions for certain families. Thanks to that you managed to earn enough money to be able to buy a brooch from Katniss. She was more than your friend. She was like your sister. After getting out of the water you looked on your wooden desk for the pin that you touched with your fingertips. The pin represents a bird, a mockingjay according to the woman who gave it to you. You dress slowly and after puting on your shirt you put the pin on it. You look in the mirror and try to do your hair. In the seam the hairstyle that all the boys have is the shaved cut. It avoids taking care of it for a long time and everyone can do it even without hairdressing instruments. But you have thick and a little long hair, not too much either, you don't like it too long. You look at your face which is marked by fatigue and hunger. You rub your thick nose trying to make it look smaller. You hate it. To be honest you hate a lot of things about your body.

You come out of your room when you see the three girls getting ready to leave.

- I'm scared Katniss.. said Prim with tears in her eyes.

- don't cry Prim, it's okay.. answered Katniss.

You walk towards them smiling, the three and you left, like everyone, towards the center of the district. You walked alongside everyone, you could saw familiar faces, people you knew from school or just people you sold animals to. People were lining up by age, Katniss reassured Prim one last time and you two went to the line for people who have your age. Peacekeepers took some of your blood, it doesn't bother you, it's been the 5th time you've been there, it's no more painfull. Katniss and you are walking to the platform where the same woman will soon be standing like every year. She always dresses weird but you were wondering what color her dress will be this year.

Katniss looks at you and finally talks to you after a few minutes of silence.

- Prim was scared that she would be picked.

- And you ? You think she'll be picked ? You said after thinking what you should say.

- Well, it's her first year.. it's impossible but I don't know.. she mumbled.

You smiled at her.

- Don't worry, Prim won't be picked, and you too.

She hugs you and you hugged her back.

Suddenly the radio speaker began to crackle, the woman dressed in purple stepped onto the stage. She smiled and took the microphone before exclaiming :

- Welcome to the 74th Annual Hunger Games !

She started giving the same speech like every year, then she showed you the movie, like every year. You looked at Katniss who was smiling. The movie ended, and the woman, you think her name is Effie, made a sign to silence everyone.

- Now I'm gonna pick the couragous boy and the couragous girl who'll compete in the arena for the district twelve !

The stressful atmosphere was felt as she advanced towards the ball containing the papers with the names of the district twelve's boys.

- Let's start with the couragous boys for change !

None of the boys spoke, the silence was heavy, as Effie searched through the ball.

- Now.. let's choose this one..

She picked up a paper and opened it slowly before the boys' absorbed gazes.

- The couragous male tribute of district twelve is..

Everyone's heart stopped, even yours.

- Peeta Mellark !

Oh no.. not him, you said to yourself. The boy, the one who helped you, the one you love passionately, will die in this arena. You want to volunteer, to save him, but Katniss, Prim and their mother need you. They all need you.

Nobody spoke, he walked towards the platform where Effie stands.

- Welcome Peeta, are you happy to be with us ? No ? Okay.

Peeta's expression broke your heart. He had tears in his eyes, he looked at the boys hoping for someone to volunteer for him. But nobody said anything. Not even his brothers.

- Well, now let's pick a girl ! Exclaimed again Effie, while she trotted with her high heels towards the ball containing the names of the girls.

You were safe, now Katniss has to be safe too. They need you.

- The female tribute of district twelve is.. Primrose Everdeen !

- what.. you murmured.

You glanced at Prim who was breathing heavily. She was crying but trying not to show it too much, but you know her too well not to notice.

- I'll volunteer.. said Katniss while looking at her feet.

- no you have to stay with your mother, you scream at her, you can't leave her !

- it's not like i have a choice ! screamed Katniss back at you.

- we can try, i'm not important !

Prim was walking slowly towards Effie while we were arguing, you knew that you needed to do something.

- I volunteer ! I VOLUNTEER ! You shouted at the peacekeepers that were trying to take Prim to Effie.

- Umh excuse me but we already have a male tribute, sorry my boy..

- I don't care, please take me instead of Primrose.

- You can't do this.. Katniss whispered to me, stop please i'll do it..

You turned to her, and smiled.

- Take care of them.

- Well, i guess we can take you ! she turned to some people that worked with the gamesmakers, yes we can ? oh well come to me my boy !

Prim turned to you, she wasn't hiding the fact that she was crying anymore and she hugged me as she screamed.

- NO PLEASE STAY, NO !

- Prim.. it's okay Katniss will be there.. I love you Prim..

And Katniss hugged her as you walked up the stage with your hands shaking. You didn't know what to feel, no pain, you can't, you can't cry. It will be even worse. You were now in front of everyone.

- What a show ! We have the first ever both male tribute ever since the creation of the Hunger Games, and one of them volunteered ! I can't be more proud of myself !

Proud of herself ? What was wrong with her.. You were trying to hide your emotions as she turned to you.

- The little girl, Prim, she was your sister?

- No, but.. I considered her as such.

- Okay ! she exclaimed.

Suddenly, everyone started raising their hands in the air, making a sign with their fingers. An old sign from your district.

- Mm, okay ! Now the tributes will say goodbye, then they'll be on their way to the capitol !

You glanced at Prim and Katniss, who was caressing her sister's head, who was crying. You were trying not to cry but it was getting harder and harder. Then you glanced at Peeta, who in turn glanced back at you.

He was crying as the people started to go back home, while the peacekeepers forced both of you to go from the stage.

-

thank you so much for reading this, if you want more, you can check my wattpad account !

[smol-chaotic-creations]

I got this idea based on art by @wingless-cupid and it really helped me get back into the writing groove! Characters belong to Yuurivoice!

Mansion's Secret

Black clouds blanketed the sky and the wind blew as if a storm was imminent. This didn't fare well for the young cryptid hunter that rode down the one-lane road, who was following an anonymous tip he had gotten about a mansion far back in the woods. Rumors had spread that the mansion was haunted by a rather mischievous entity, but no one had been able to see it for themselves. Now, Seth was determined to be the first to see said entity and the first to document it. As he pulled up to the building, the brunette couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by its aura. It gave off a sense of ancient power, and that only made the mansion seem larger than it was.

Seth parked his bike without breaking eye contact, and slowly approached the door. Once his hand landed on the doorknob, his body felt cold and in a sense... dead, in some way. "No," the male thought, "I've gone hunting in way scarier places than this! An abandoned mansion is nothing!" With that, he threw open the door to reveal the beautiful, open foyer with an old chandelier hanging from the ceiling. As he walked in, the house creaked in defiance, as if it was upset by the younger presence. What the male couldn't see, was a tall and slender figure watching him from one of the higher platforms.

The vampire smiled wide as he watched the human, making sure to take in every part of his figure. Alphonse had not seen another mortal for quite some time, heck, he hadn't seen anyone in a long time. Being a vampire trapped inside of a dusty old mansion by himself, really wasn't as glamorous as it sounded before he died. He tended to spend his days sleeping and thinking, which was not a good thing either. The boy longed for someone, anyone, to find his mansion and keep him company, even if that meant them visiting.

"Maybe this is my chance," he thought in excitement, "This human must not be frightened if he walked in here so boldly!" With that, he began to float and followed the cryptid hunter as a way to figure out how to reveal himself.

Seth wandered the old house, carefully looking around every corner and examining anything he could get his hands on. Most of the items in the house were dusty and untouched, but that was until he found what looked to be some kind of journal. As the brunette picked up the book, Alphonse felt himself stiffen and reach out to lightly smack it out of Seth's hand. "What in the sam hill," the other shouted, pulling his hand back and bumping into the vampire behind him.

As the boy froze, Alphonse felt his brain scramble to find some way to respond to the sudden reaction. He watched as Seth slowly moved to hold his flashlight up and turn to look behind him. So, he wrapped his arm around the other male and smiled wide as he gave a greeting, "Sorry about that friend. That's a bit of personal work." The brunette was frozen in place and stared at the vampire with a mixture of fear and excitement. His frozen state soon passed, allowing him to spin away so he could face the vampire before him, making sure to keep his flashlight on the being.

"What do you want," he demanded, gaining some confidence to glare at Alphonse. The vampire was confused but excited by Seth's excitement nonetheless.

So, he answered in a chipper manner, "Oh I don't want anything. I just heard you come in and decided to follow you." The muscular man raised a brow, confused by the sincerity in the undead being's tone. "You know," the other continued, "You're the first person that's ever come here so confidently! Everyone else was always so scared, and honestly, it was really getting annoying." Now, that took Seth by surprise, causing him to loosen up his stance.

"Wait," he questioned, "You're not going to uh... try and kill me?"

Now it was Alphonse's turn to be confused, "What?! Is that what the townspeople are saying?! I have enough blood in storage to last me years! I would have no reason to kill anyone!" The 'blood in storage' comment concerned the brunette, but he felt no need to dwell on it, considering it might just anger the being in front of him.

"If I play my cards right," he thought, "I might just be able to befriend this thing."

Meanwhile, Alphonse could only think, "If I'm careful, I might be able to actually make a friend!"

[smallsies]

⛓

⛓: A plot bunny you just can’t let go of, even if you don’t plan on writing it.

strangely enough, the idea of a ghost hunting fic! headcanons under the cut;

modern era blink is really into horror & paranormal activity, which on a half-joking suggestion from jack leads him to creating a youtube channel surrounding unsolved mysteries

initially it's more of a way to pass the time than anything in between shifts at the local history museum and fossil site, but his content begins to gain traction after being mentioned by a more famous creator

needing to keep up with the demand, blink's friend avery starts helping out with his channel-- he's a film studies major at their college and has higher quality equipment than what blink was previously using

avery, whom blink affectionately nicknamed sniper, suggested blink take the opportunity to expand his content and try a video at a different angle

they landed on the classic "exploring an abandoned asylum", recruiting a handful of others who had appeared in blink's videos once or twice

a couple weeks of planning later sees blink, sniper, smalls, mush, hildy and jojo flying cross-country to new york (jack had been invited to come, but refused on the basis of "not wanting to die yet") the city had plenty of history, enough content to make the expense worth it

the first property they'd selected was owned by a well-known news journalist Bryan Denton (who bought the site after previous break-ins had led to the police discovering a wealth of historical artifacts). hildy spoke to the man over the phone and somehow convinced him to allow them access, claiming the potential research the students could do on-site

sniper and hildy, as the party's film students, are on videography duty, mush assigns himself to flashlight duty ("somebody should be in charge, it's not because i'm scared, blink,") and blink, smalls, and jojo are all in front of the cameras running the show

half the crew leans towards skepticism, while the others are bordering on curiosity and anxiety, but within an hour of being in the asylum, "incidents" start occurring

voices seeming to come from nowhere, doors opening and closing on their own, jojo being pushed down a flight of stairs when nobody had been standing near him (he twisted his ankle, smalls thought, but he would be okay)

mush was convinced someone was pranking them, or blink had set it up for the sake of the cameras, but reality settles in whenever they're faced with the faintest glimpse of a person, a boy with blonde curls and a cigarette tucked into the corner of his mouth

the ghost doesn't seem angry with them, merely confused, as if he was lost. his name is race, he says, and he died there, and wanted to know if they were dead too

enter discovering that the asylum was initially known as the refuge some two hundred years before, housing homeless kids unfortunate enough to land themselves in trouble

and basically the rest would be them uncovering more secrets of the city, befriending ghosts and ultimately getting trapped in a massive historical cover up headed by one of the biggest journalism companies in america, targets on their backs thanks to the world's owner, joseph pulitzer

i also have thoughts about their dynamics and majors and other random details;

blink- geosciences + minor in anthropology

sniper- film studies + english double major

smalls- history, ancient civilizations concentration

mush- theatre + business double major

hildy- film studies + minor in a/v communications

jojo- legal studies, criminal law concentration

blink and mush have been together since high school

blink and jack are roommates, they live across the hall from jojo and sniper in one of the dorms

mush technically shares an apartment with his sister, but he spends most of his time at blink's

hildy and smalls are roommates in an apartment, they met at a bookstore hildy was working at (& both work there now)

sniper and smalls are head-over-heels for one another, but still deeply in denial of the fact

their group gets the nickname "newsies" from blink's fans after a clip of smalls infodumping about the strike makes it into the video

send me a plot bunny ask!

[undercoveravenger]

A Pirate’s Life For Me

Creature Week 2020: Day Two

Pairing: Harry Hook x Siren!Male!Reader

Request: “Harry Hook rescued by a male!siren reader?” 

A/N: This is set in an AU where the villains were never trapped on the Isle, so Harry grew up on the Jolly Roger with his father.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry had been working on his father’s ship practically since he’d been born, but in all that time he had never seen the typically crystalline waters of Neverland become this rough. He’d seen the Jolly Roger weather storms before. He’d smelled the salty sea air grow thick with the scent of rain and watched as the dark wooden planks of the deck speckled with the falling droplets of water. He’d seen the sails billow and tear when the winds came ripping through more suddenly than the crew had been prepared for.

This was no normal storm though. The sails were being shredded up on the masts, the wind was thrashing the tail ends of the rigging around like whips and no one had been able to pull them in. Harry had abandoned his previous post almost immediately when he realized just how bad the storm was getting and did his best to help mitigate the damage.

He’d barely managed to reel in one of the flailing lengths of rope and get it tied down when he found himself slammed into by a wayward boom, the thick beam uncontrollable since the vicious winds had torn through the sail. The force knocked him from his feet and sent him plummeting over the ship’s railing and into the freezing water below.

Harry flailed, trying in vain to flounder his way to the surface but only succeeding in tiring himself out. The weight of his heavy leather coat and the sword and scabbard strapped to his hip dragged him further beneath the frigid waves as they soaked in water.

His movements had started to slow and his vision was going dark when he’d first seen it. A dark figure had flitted past him, barely discernible from the black depths around him. Then he’d felt the thickly-muscled tail brush against the back of one of his legs and, as his consciousness finally slipped away from him, Harry hoped that he would drown before the siren chose to do more than observe him.

-----------------------------------

When Harry had woken up and found himself lying on the sun-warmed sand of an unfamiliar beach, he had been sure that this must have been the afterlife. The burning ache of his ribs where he’d been struck by the beam during the storm when he tried to sit up had been enough to convince him that the events of the previous night had really happened.

He forced himself to sit up quickly, ignoring the pain from his bruised chest in favor of attempting to identify his surroundings. He was sure that this was not the main island of Neverland, but it also had a very different appearance than any of the smaller surrounding islands that he had been to. He supposed that the ship could have drifted during the storm, but he doubted that they’d made it into a previously uncharted archipelago. But then, how had he ended up here? 

The last thing Harry had known, he had been drowning and the ship had been far enough from land to have made washing up on some beach nearly impossible.

“Oh good,” came the sound of an unfamiliar voice. “You were out so long I was starting to wonder if I hadn’t gotten to you in time.”

Harry wheeled around at the sound of the stranger’s voice, eyes widening as he locked eyes with the most attractive guy he’d ever seen. The stranger was laying in the water on his stomach with his chin propped up on his hands, seemingly undisturbed by the freezing temperature of the water as waves crashed up over the bare skin of his back and shoulders. Harry forced himself not to linger on the stranger’s shirtlessness, instead shifting his attention to the damp waves of thick (h/c) hair falling over captivating (e/c) eyes and the alluring smile he was being offered.

Harry swallowed sharply, suddenly struggling to remember how speaking worked, “You? You were the one who saved me?”

The (h/c) nodded, shoulders straightening proudly, “Yeah, I was swimming nearby and saw you fall off your ship.” He ducked his head, looking almost abashed, “My sisters told me that it was what you deserved, but I didn’t agree so I dove after you.” 

“Your family wanted you to let me drown…?” Harry wasn’t exactly sure what sort of people would want to let someone drown, but he had the distinct impression that he probably wouldn’t like his savior’s family.

He shrugged, rolling over onto his back so he could look up at the sky, “Wouldn’t be the first time. It’s kind of what we do.” At the baffled look on Harry’s face, the (h/c) let out a huff. Harry watched as the stranger shifted his weight back onto his shoulders a little, using the new leverage to lift his legs out of the water.

Except it wasn’t legs that emerged from the frothing waves. No, instead, the (h/c) lifted a huge, gleaming caudal fin from its previous place hidden under the water, droplets and rivulets trailing down the length of the tail toward where it merged with his torso. 

At first glance, Harry had assumed he was just one of the merpeople that lingered in Mermaid Lagoon, but he quickly noticed the distinctive differences. Merpeople had beautiful, elegant tails that came in a rainbow of shades more appropriate to showing off than for use in hunting. Sirens on the other hand? They were made to kill and one good look at the (h/c)’s tail had Harry convinced that he knew what he was dealing with.

His scales shone a brilliant emerald color and the myriad of colors that made up the caudal fin nearly camouflaged the set of poisonous spines hiding along the length of the fin. Harry knew, even without seeing it, that a similar set could be found along the shorter fin that trailed up the back of the tail.

After all, sirens were deadly even without their captivating songs.

Harry scrambled back at the sight, pushing himself further up the beach in an effort to get away from the creature.

The (h/c) let out a disappointed huff, letting his tail drop back against the water with a loud slapping sound. He dropped his head back against the sand, but Harry knew he was still under observation. “You realize that if I were going to make a meal of you, I would have done it by now, right? I had the perfect opportunity before. Y’know, when you were drowning?” He sighed as Harry made no move to relax, eventually pushing himself further into the water and slipping off below the waves.

Harry knew that even with the siren out of sight, it still posed a massive threat. He wasn’t sure exactly how long it would take for the crew to find him, if they ever did, so his first priority needed to be securing himself a shelter. He wasn’t sure how large the island really was, but he decided that he would rather make his camp near the beach than in the thick jungle that loomed beyond the welcoming white sands. He’d just have to make sure to take some precautions to ensure that his silver-tongued visitor would not be visiting unexpectedly.

---------------------

It took him several hours to set up a shelter that he deemed secure enough, and several more to find enough rocks to serve as a sort of barrier. He spent the rest of the day arranging the stones in rows three or four deep around the sea-facing edge of his camp, the most jagged edges facing the water. He knew that rocks alone would do little against a siren, but it made him feel better to think that if the creature wanted him dead enough to drag itself out of the water after him, it’d at least have to risk injuring itself.

-----------------------

When Harry awoke the next morning to find the siren lounging in the same spot as it had been yesterday glaring reproachfully at his meager stone barrier, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of satisfaction.

The (h/c) turned to look at him as he emerged from his shelter, (e/c) eyes glinting oddly in the light. “What’s this for?”

“To keep you away from me,” Harry replied evenly, crossing his arms over his chest.

The siren rolled his eyes grumpily, dragging a claw-tipped finger along the edge of one of the rocks, “And here I was going to offer to take you back to the other humans once you were healed.”

Harry let out a bitter laugh, “And get back in the water with a siren? Not a chance.”

“Good luck meeting back up with your family then,” the siren retorted, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. “There are not many boats that come this far. There are too many of us up here.”

Harry’s eyes widened; if the siren was telling the truth, then he really was on his own. There would be no chance of rescue if he was deep in siren territory. He swore at the realization, hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Why should I believe you?”

The (h/c) shrugged, pushing himself to sit up further to watch the waves come rolling in, “I have no reason to lie. Because of you, I have no family to go home to. No one to protect but myself.”

The brunet was confused. “Because of me? What did I do?”

“I saved you,” the (h/c) replied simply. “They saw that as a betrayal. Thought that I was putting a stranger above the wellbeing of the pod and decided to cast me out.” He smiled wryly, eyes fixed on the horizon, “I have no one but you now.”

The siren’s honesty had Harry feeling a little guilty about his earlier hostility. And the (h/c) had a point when he said that he could’ve just let him drown, but instead he’d tried to save him and he was offering to take him back to the ship as soon as he was better.

Harry took a deep breath as he made his way closer to the siren, kicking a few of the stones out of the way as he approached. The (h/c) looked stunned by his change in attitude, but he chose to remain silent even as the brunet sat down beside him. “My mom died when I was little,” he started slowly, azure eyes fixed far past the boy beside him. “She’d gone out on the ship with my dad and his crew and when they came back she was gone along with almost half of the crew.” The breath he took was shaky and Harry felt like he didn��t have nearly enough air in his lungs to continue, “My dad says it was sirens; they were lured off of the ship by their singing and drowned.”

The siren’s (e/c) eyes were wide as he looked back at Harry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Harry replied slowly, “I just wanted you to understand why it’s hard for me to trust you.”

“That makes sense,” his companion nodded, the end of his tail flicking and creating a mess of tiny waves that washed up over Harry’s feet and wet the ends of his pants. “You can call me (M/N), by the way.’

“The name’s Harry,” the brunet replied, watching the light dance off his new friend’s scales hypnotically. His lips quirked up as he realized that being trapped here with him until he had recovered may not be so bad after all.

[crimeculturepodcast]

Hispanic/Latino horror movies

In honor of Hispanic Heritage month, this week we talked about horror movies out of Latin American and Spanish speaking countries. There were some we couldn’t get to so here is the full list:

Spain

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

Audience Score: 89%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Creepily atmospheric and haunting, The Devil's Backbone is both a potent ghost story and an intelligent political allegory.

Description: “Set during the last years of the Spanish Civil War, The Devil's Backbone is a Spanish gothic horror movie that follows Carlos, a young orphan boy who is deposited at Santa Lucia School among several other children who have been displaced by the conflict. Though he finds friends in the professor and the head mistress, he is plagued by a wandering spirit with a link to the violent caretaker's secret past.”

Trivia: The movie, which he wrote in college and was in development for 16 years, is strongly inspired by Del Toro’s personal memories, especially his relationship with his uncle, who supposedly came back as a ghost. It is also included among the "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider. Although filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is Mexican, this film is set in the Spanish countryside (largely filmed in Madrid) that’s why it’s on the Spanish list. The Devil’s Backbone has all of the impactful elements of spirituality, horror, and the supernatural that come up again and again in Del Toro’s work. This film has been referred to as the “brother film” of one of Del Toro’s best known works, Pan’s Labyrinth. 

[REC] (2007)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 82%

Google Score: 85%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Critics Consensus: Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror.

Description: “Late-night TV host Angela and her cinematographer are following the fire service on a call to an apartment building, but the Spanish police seal off the building after an old woman is infected by a virus which gives her inhuman strength.”

Trivia: The movie was filmed chronologically in real locations (no sets were built for the movie). The actor’s were never given the script in its entirety and didn’t know what was going to happen to their characters until the day of filming. The movie is also a big inspiration for the horror survival game Outlast.

Considered The Blair Witch Project of zombie movies, REC had a lot of competition in the found footage style (it came out the same year as George Romero’s Diary of the Dead and the first Paranormal Activity movie). It more than holds its own among them, so much so that an American remake called Quarantine came out the next year. Director Jaume Balagueró keeps the movie disturbingly real and doesn’t fall prey to jump scare after jump scare.

Veronica (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.2/10

Critics Consensus: A scarily effective horror outing, Veronica proves it doesn't take fancy or exotic ingredients to craft skin-crawling genre thrills. 

Description: “During a solar eclipse, a teenage girl and her friends want to summon the spirit of the girl's father using an Ouija board. However, during the session she loses consciousness and soon it becomes clear that evil demons have arrived.”

Trivia: Based on the true story of 18-year-old Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro. I won’t go too far into it because we may do an episode on it in the future but if you want spoilers, watch the movie (if you dare).

Directed by Paco Plaza (same as REC), the possession theme is done over and over again in horror but this movie is a terrifying and fresh take. 

The Bar (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 55%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 6.3/10

Description: “In bustling downtown Madrid, a loud gunshot and two mysterious deaths trap a motley assortment of common urbanites in a decrepit central bar, while paranoia and suspicion force the terrified regulars to turn on each other.”

Directed by Álex de la Iglesia, it’s labeled as a horror-comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Who Can Kill A Child? (1976) - Tells the story of a happy couple, two English tourists who decide to vacation on a secluded island in the Mediterranean. There they discover – almost too late- that the island has been taken over by a group of murderous children.

The Baby’s Room (2006) - Featured on Six Films to Keep You Awake at Night. A new family renovates and moves into a grand old house. Nervous first-time mom installs a baby monitor but hears mysterious sounds on the other side. Once they install a high-tech video baby monitor, what they see chills them to the bone.

Sleep Tight (2011) - Apartment concierge Cesar is a miserable person who believes he was born without the ability to be happy. His self-appointed task is to make life hell for everyone around him, a mission in which he has great success. It has big home invasion/stalker vibes. 

Timecrimes (2007) - A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. It sounds like a “Happy Death Day” type of plot (but proceeding it by a decade).

Thesis (1996) - Angela is doing her thesis on the effect of violence in the media when she discovers a snuff film. This discovery leads her down a dark path where she must confront her greatest fears and question everybody around her.

Witching and Bitching (2013) - One article I read said it perfectly, “What Shaun of the Dead did for zombies and What We Do in the Shadows did for vampires, Witching & Bitching essentially did for the cinematic depiction of witches, albeit on a less visible scale.” Great pick if you’re looking for something a bit more lighthearted.

Mexico

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 91%

Google Score: 90%

IMDb: 8.2/10

Critics Consensus: Pan's Labyrinth is Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups, with the horrors of both reality and fantasy blended together into an extraordinary, spellbinding fable. 

Description: After the Allies invade Nazi-occupied Europe, a sadistic captain sends a troop of Spanish soldiers to flush out rebels,bringing his new wife and her daughter along on his exploits. While his family resides in the countryside, he leads his men on a murderous rampage, much of which is witnessed by his step daughter. In an effort to escape her reality she plunges into Pan's Labyrinth, a mystical world at the border of her own.

Trivia: Guillermo del Toro is famous for compiling books full of notes and drawings about his ideas before turning them into films, something he regards as essential to the process. He left years worth of notes for this film in the back of a cab, and when he discovered them missing, he thought it was the end of the project. However, the cab driver found them and, realizing their importance, tracked him down and returned them at great personal difficulty and expense. Del Toro was convinced that this was a blessing and it made him ever more determined to complete the film. Del Toro also repeatedly refused offers from Hollywood producers, in spite of being offered double the budget, provided the film was made in English. He didn't want any compromise in the storyline to suit the "market needs" (he even did the English subtitles himself). The film received 22 minutes of applause at the Cannes Film Festival and in 2007, it became one of the few fantasy films ever nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. It’s another on the list "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" edited by Steven Schneider with The Devil’s Backbone. It was on more than 130 top 10 lists in 2006. It is also the 5th highest grossing foreign language film in the US.

The Similars (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Audience Score: 49%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.9/10

Critics Consensus: A smart homage to genre filmmaking, The Similars is a fun and frightening film that balances socio-political issues with aplomb.

Description: A monstrous, once-in-a-lifetime thunderstorm strands passengers in a remote bus station outside Mexico City in 1968. As they listen to the radio, they realized that the storm has spread all over the world. As they look at each other, they also realize that everyone���s faces are slowly changing, and not for the better. 

Trivia: The film used make-up and special effects techniques never before done in Mexico. Director Isaac Ezban was influenced by B-movies of the 50s and 60s as well as TV shows and movies like “The Twilight Zone”, “The Thing”, and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.

We Are What We Are (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Audience Score: 48%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 5.7/10

Critics Consensus: We Are What We Are is elevated horror that combines family drama and social politics, with plenty of gore on top.

Description: After a family patriarch dies, his survivors are tasked with continuing the rigid family rituals that involve hunting meat, preparing it for consumption, and eating it. The “meat” in question is human flesh, since they’re a family of cannibals. With two detectives hot on their tail, the family of cannibals strains to maintain their family traditions in a modern urban environment.

There was an English language remake in 2013 (86% on Rotten Tomatoes) with Wyatt Russell and Odeya Rush (Lady Bird, Dumplin’, and Goosebumps)

We Are The Flesh (2016) - A joint French-Mexican production released in Spanish as Somos la carne, this post-apocalyptic nightmare involves a brother and sister who roam the land desperately seeking food until a kindly old man takes them in under the condition that they help him renovate an abandoned building. Oh, and they also have to have sex with one another while he watches. And after he breaks their will by getting them to do that, he makes them do all sorts of other things. This film was one of only four in Mexico to receive a “D” rating—which is reserved for subject matter that is considered extremely disturbing and/or pornographic.

The Witch’s Mirror (1962) - An abusive and cheating husband kills his wife so that he can be with his mistress. The woman’s godmother was a witch who originally tried casting a spell on a mirror to protect her from domestic violence, but the spell failed. Still, she is able to bring the woman back from the grave, and the two witches set out to destroy the evil woman-beater.

Here Comes The Devil (2012) - A married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be, that something terrifying has changed them.

Chile

Downhill (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 43%

IMDb: 3.5/10

Description: Deeply upset by the passing of his best friend, a professional BMX rider accepts to partake in a race in Chile. Everything goes as planned until he stumbles upon a man who is infected by a mysterious virus and becomes the target of local assassins.

Trivia: Filmed in 13 days

Post Mortem (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Audience Score: 61%

Google Score: 70%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: In Chile, 1973, during the last days of Salvador Allende’s presidency, an employee at a Morgue’s recording office falls for a burlesque dancer who mysteriously disappears.

Aftershock (2012)

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%

Audience Score: 24%

Google Score: 61%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Critics Consensus: Aftershock hints at an inventive twist on horror tropes, but ultimately settles for another round of mind-numbing depravity that may alternately bore and revolt all but the most ardent gore enthusiasts.

Description: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.

Trivia: Horror icon Eli Roth wrote and stars in this film.

To Kill A Man (2014) - An attack on his daughter leads a mild-mannered family man to take revenge on the vicious street thugs who have tormented him and his family for a long time.

Columbia

Out Of The Dark (2014) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 24%

Audience Score: 22%

Google Score: 77%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: A family moves to Colombia to take over the operation of a manufacturing plant, soon they learn their new home is haunted.

Trivia: Starring Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, Dexter) and Scott Speedman (The Strangers, You) 

The Squad (2011)

Audience Score: 53%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: After a secret military base ceases all communications, an anti-guerrilla commando unit is sent to the mountainous location to discover what exactly happened. The squad expects to discover that the base was attacked and taken over by guerrilla units, but instead find only a lone woman wrapped in chains.

Trivia: In one scene where the actors are shooting guns, one actor accidentally picked up a real gun instead of the prop and fired a real shot (no one was hurt).

Cord (2015) - On a post-apocalyptic world of never-ending winter, a sparse cast of outsiders live underground. Due to their unsanitary conditions, sexual contact has become dangerous. Masturbation has become the paradigm of sexual experience and an array of low-tech devices with this purpose has come into existence. In this bleak reality, a dealer of such machines a sex addict make a deal: she will allow him to experiment new devices on her body in exchange of pleasure. Soon however, their relationship goes out of control.

The Hidden Face (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 86%

IMDb: 7.4/10

Description: Shattered by the unexpected news of their irreversible break-up, an aspiring orchestra conductor is puzzled by his girlfriend's mysterious and seemingly inexplicable case of disappearance. But, can he look beyond the facts?

Trivia: There is a Turkish version of this movie and a 2013 remake out of India called “Murder 3”

At The End Of The Spectra (2006)

Google Score: 83%

IMDb: 6/10

Description: A young woman who has become agoraphobic due to a traumatic incident is holed up in her apartment, she begins to suffer from hallucinations, paranoia and an obsessive neighbour.

Trivia: There is a Mexican remake called “Devil Inside” and there were once rumors of an American remake starring Nicole Kidman but that’s the end of that.

Uruguay

The Silent House (La Casa Muda) (2010) 

Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

Audience Score: 37%

Google Score: 63%

IMDb: 5.4/10

Critics Consensus: Shot in a single take, The Silent House may be a gimmick movie, but it's one that's enough to sustain dread and tension throughout. 

Description: A girl becomes trapped inside a house and becomes unable to contact the outside world as supernatural forces haunt it.

Trivia: The plot is supposedly based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. With a budget of just six thousand dollars, it was filmed using a handheld high-definition digital single-lens reflex camera (the Canon EOS 5D Mark II), 2 handheld lamps, and a couple of lightbulbs over a time period of just four days. The claim that the movie was filmed in one continuous take are suspect. The Mark II camera can only record up to 15 minutes of continuous video at a time. Uruguay's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

Monos (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% 

Audience Score: 85%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: As visually splendid as it is thought-provoking, Monos takes an unsettling look at human nature whose grim insights leave a lingering impact.

Description: On a faraway mountaintop, eight teenaged guerillas with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow. Playing games and initiating cult-like rituals, the children run amok in the jungle and disaster strikes when the hostage tries to escape.

Trivia: Moises Arias (Hannah Montana) and Julianne Nicholson (I, Tonya, August: Osage County) most of the other actors had never acted before. The movie draws inspiration from Lord of the Flies. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. It was selected as the official Colombian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Peru

The Entity (2015)

Google Score: 66%

IMDb: 4.3/10

Description: A group of students decide to study 'reaction videos' and are led toward an old film, hidden in the archive room of a cemetery. It appears that everybody who has witnessed the film has met an untimely demise under suspicious circumstances. When the students view the footage, they discover first hand, what the demonic spirit is capable of. Fulfilling the ancient curse of a woman cruelly killed during the Spanish Inquisition.

Trivia: The Entity has been billed as Peru's first 3D horror film and to have been loosely based on true stories. Review websites Flickering Myth and Nerdly commented that the movie suffered from being too overly familiar to pre-existing works (Blair Witch, The Ring).

The Vanished Elephant (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 88%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Crime novelist Edo remains obsessed with what happened to his fiancee Celia after she disappeared during an earthquake. When an enigmatic woman brings him photos that may help him solve the mystery, he senses he is being drawn into a dangerous game.

The Secret Of Evil (2014)

Google Score: 65%

IMDb: 5/10

Description: Video footage depicting a supernatural encounter is all that remains of a filmmaker and his crew who disappeared while exploring a haunted house.

When Two Worlds Collide (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Audience Score: 69%

Google Score: 93%

IMDb: 7.6/10

Description: An indigenous environmental activist takes on the large businesses that are destroying the Amazon.

El Vientre (2014)

Google Score: 81%

IMDb: 6.1/10

Description: Silvia, a beautiful 45-year-old widow, is obsessed with having a child and finds in attractive but naive Mercedes the perfect candidate to bear it. Silvia kindly offers her a job and a room in her house, and then manipulates her into seducing a young man named Jaime. They soon fall in love and Mercedes becomes pregnant. Silvia will do anything in her power to keep the baby, even if it means leaving a couple of bodies behind.

Argentina

Terrified (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 

Audience Score: 65%

Google Score: 82%

IMDb: 6.5/10

Description: Paranormal researchers investigate strange events in a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires.

Luciferina (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

Audience Score: 25%

Google Score: 69%

IMDb: 4.6/10

Description: Natalia is a nineteen-year-old novice who reluctantly returns home to say goodbye to her dying father. However, when she meets up with her sister and her friends, she decides instead to travel the jungle in search of mystical plant.

Francesca (2015)

Audience Score: 67%

Google Score: 73%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Description: Two detectives track a serial killer who has been targeting the impure. To catch him, they'll have to solve the case of a girl who went missing 15 years ago.

Cold Sweat (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 58%

IMDb: 4.8/10

Description: The movie follows Román, who stumbles upon his ex-girlfriend Jackie, who has somehow gotten caught up in a torture cult run by two sadistic, old men. The aging political radicals have managed to put Jackie’s life in incredible danger. But when Román and his friend try to help Jackie out of her confines, the elderly psychos prove to be more than meets the eye.

Penumbra (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 50%

Audience Score: 26%

Google Score: 75%

IMDb: 5.5/10

Description: A woman desperate to find a tenant for her decrepit apartment apparently finds the perfect candidate, unaware of a sinister plot involving an imminent eclipse.

Venezuela

The House At The End of Time (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes: None 

Audience Score: 72%

Google Score: 91%

IMDb: 6.8/10

Description: Dulce encounters apparitions in her house and unleashes a terrible prophecy. Thirty years later, Dulce, now an old woman, returns to unravel the mystery that has terrorized her for years.

Trivia: Winner of the Audience Award at Gävle Horror Film Festival 2016 (Sweden). Not only is it Venezuela’s highest-grossing horror film, it’s also the most distributed film from the country. By August 2016 it was announced that the American studio New Line Cinema acquired the rights of the film to make a remake for the American public. Hidalgo is still at the wheel so its chances of success are high.

Ecuador

Cronicas (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes: 71%

Audience Score: 77%

Google Score: 80%

IMDb: 6.9/10

Critics Consensus: An unsettling and absorbing cautionary tale with John Leguizamo playing an unscrupulous TV reporter who uses the medium to further his own goals.

Description: Reporter Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo) goes to a jail in Ecuador to interview Vinicio Cepeda (Damián Alcázar, Narcos, Narnia), a hit-and-run driver whose crime incited a riot. After Cepeda tells him he knows where a murderer called the Monster of Babahoyo buried a young female victim, Bonilla posts bail in the hopes that he'll learn more about the crime. Bonilla finds the girl's body, but, as he nears the scoop of his career, it looks as if Cepeda might be withholding some key details.

Trivia: Inspired by a true story? As well as being both a Cannes and TIFF favourite, Cronicas is the official submission of Ecuador for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 77th Academy Awards in 2005, it was produced by Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) This is John Leguizamo’s first film in Spanish. He said he felt awkward talking in Spanish while acting, like he didn't know the language. 

English Language Horror

The Silent House (2011) This is in English

Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

Audience Score: 

Google Score: 72%

IMDb: 5.3/10

Critics Consensus: Silent House is more technically proficient and ambitious than most fright-fests, but it also suffers from a disappointing payoff.

Description: Sarah is working with her father and uncle to renovate an old family home to prepare it for sale. Long vacant, the house has no utilities, forcing the trio to rely on battery-operated lanterns to light their way. Sarah becomes separated from her relatives and soon finds she is trapped inside the cabin, with no contact with the outside world. Panic turns to real terror as the young woman experiences events that become increasingly ominous.

Trivia: Elizabeth Olsen (Wandavision) The plot is based on a true story that occurred in the 1940s in a small village in Uruguay. Contrary to the marketing's claim that the film was shot in one uninterrupted take, the entire movie was actually shot to mimic one continuous real-time take, with no cuts from start to finish, as a result the time span of the film's plot is exactly 86 minutes. It was shot in roughly 10 minute segments then carefully edited to hide the cuts.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - This along with the rest of the Dead series are the work of George A. Romero, whose father is from Cuba.

Ash vs. Evil Dead - I love the Evil Dead movies and although this series wasn’t perfect (I’m sure die-hard fans will say it's far from it), I still think it kept to the heart of the main story. Bruce Campbell is obviously perfect and the addition of Lucy Lawless is amazing, it’s really Puerto Rican actor Ray Santiago that steals the show.

The Others (2001) - Directed by globally renowned Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar, The Others starring Nicole Kidman is a Spanish gothic horror movie that combines elements of the supernatural, psychological, and mystical. It focuses on the strange events that occur at the estate of a woman and her young children, plagued by spirits in the aftermath of WWII. It has the distinction of being the only English-language Spanish movie to be given the Best Film Award at Spain's national film awards, the Goyas. In total, the movie has seven Goya Awards, including for Best Director. Although it might not read as particularly “Spanish,” it was produced, written and filmed all in Spain, shooting in Cantabria, Northern Spain and Madrid.

[dreamywriterinthedark]

Losing you pt II: Dressed to kill

Introductory part

Pairing: Spencer x fem!reader

Category: angst.

Resume: Reader goes undercover to trick an unsub and help the team catch him but things go dramatically down hill. She regrets not listening to Reid’s advice, he helps her cope. Basically, this is what would happen if Linda Barnes was the leader of the team and you joined.

Trigger warnings: Linda Barnes slander, death, blood, injuries, trauma, weapons; a gun and a knife, medication. (please let me know if i forgot something <3)

You checked yourself in the bathroom mirror. You wore a little black dress with glimmers that suited your morphology better than anything you’ve worn before. You ran your hands on your silhouette anxious at the thought of being so close to a serial killer. The worst part is that you had to pretend you liked him so he could trap you. You felt slightly dehumanised like you ridiculously were the cheese on a mouse trap.

“Are you done, Y/n ? I’d like to see how the dress looks on you.” JJ asked knocking on the door. You unlocked the door seeing Tara and JJ stand right in front. JJ slightly gasped and Tara’s mouth formed an ‘oh’ in reaction to your sultry beauty.

“Well, Tara, if you were ever considering an alternative career stylist might be just for you.” said JJ complimenting Tara’s choice.

“Are you okay, Y/n ? You look horrified.” Tara asked concerned putting a hand on your shoulder. “Oh, I’m fine. Let’s go see the guys,” you answered stepping out between them your heels clicking on the floor. They glanced at each other shrugging exchanging a contentment frown.

Spencer was rambling without catching a breath to Luke until he slapped his shoulder when he noticed you were out and ready. Luke made his way towards you. “Well, will you look at that ? Looks like I’ve got competition on the team’s most attractive member.”

“Shut up.” you answered playfully to which he laughed putting his hands up in defeat.

Spencer stood behind but not as far as he was before when he was chatting with Morgan. He licked his lips, hands in his pockets looking at you and only as if everyone around him disappeared. He saw you before and the fact that you wore a tight dress did not change that. His stare was more of the analytical type. As you walked down the few steps you almost tripped catching yourself thanks to the rampart. You closed your eyes with a hand on your chest to calm your heart throbbing at your ribcage. Before anyone had the time to say anything you laughed it off; “Stupid heels, pretty but could kill you in a flash.”

 The team went along and laughed with you except Spencer who only furrowed his eyebrows. You did not trip because of your shoes but because you were dizzy. You hardly slept or took care of yourself before this; you were too anxious. Spencer giving you the cold shoulder did not help either. You did not understand that very well, you thought things were good between you two. It’s not like you could guess every single that ra through his head when your own was spinning already.

Once you were all in the elevator Spencer whispered in your ear “You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to ?” You felt his warm breath on your neck, this closeness along with his voice made you feel fizzy inside.

“This is the only way.” you whispered back nodding your head now looking into his eyes.

You were going to meet the unsub at his favorite hunting spot; the dive bar. You were sitting aside Tara at the back of the SUV while Penelope was at your right violently typing at her laptop. At the front was Luke at the steering wheel. He pulled up by a secluded spot a few blocks away from the bar. Penelope was rarely on the field but you were glad she was. She was not only an anchor for you since the beginning, but your first true friend within the FBI. She liked to call you “kitten” or her “little protégée.” Plus she was taking care of your spying devices such as your ear piece and the mic she would hide in your dress including your GPS tracker.

Luke’s phone started ringing, he answered. After a very brief conversation he debriefed it to you three. “It was Barnes, they’re ready. Once you get out of the car, Y/n, the rest of the team is going to join us in this car to listen to your conversation enhance the unsub’s confession. Except JJ is going to be on the field undercover to update us on your every move.” You nodded to let him know you understand the instructions. “Then we’ll follow you to the location the unsub takes you to and arrest him. Tara and I will be out there in hiding in case anything happens. Got it?”

“Got it.” You said gesturing toward the door at your right. Penelope got out with you, before you left she said “Just know, we’ll be right here listening to everything but please be safe. I don’t want to lose my best friend.”

“Penelope, you’re not going to lose me.” You hugged her tight, “Plus you know if I died I’d haunt all of you.” You chuckled as you detached yourself squishing her hand before walking away for good.

Everything went according to plan, you gave the eye to the unsub, you perfectly fit his idea of the perfect victim. You acted naive and what if you were ? Because even though the whole time you had the worst gut feeling you still went thinking that was going to grant you validation from the leader of the team, Linda Barnes. The cold hearted one that can not trust a woman yet you trusted her, how pathetic.

The unsub took you to a dark alley but before Tara and Luke could get out of the SUV, Barnes told them to stand their ground.

“Why ?” Tara asked.

“Because I can’t risk the unsub seeing you and lose his confession or evidence.” he answered.

You started panicking, going from anxiety to a state of agony as the unsub pointed a knife at you.

“Well, can we go now ?!” asked Luke.

“We can’t take this risk just yet.”

“You know what ? I can’t risk Y/n being dead!” Spencer said rising from his seat but getting slammed back down by Linda.

“It’s okay, we’re not going to let anything happe-“ A gunshot interrupted this back and forth conversation. Everyone ran to you seeing you on the floor, blood slipping through the cracks of tar. Your shaky hands dropped the small gun right next to your boy bag purse. You tried to stand up but you couldn’t, you wished you could cry but you were too shocked, too numb to even let a whimper out. Spencer took off his windbreaker before running to you helping you up and slinging it over your shoulders with an arm around them. 

As he guided you towards the medics he bit back at Barnes, “Not going to let anything happen, right, Linda ?” He did not respond instead he looked down at the floor which would now let him forget the repercussion for his actions since it was tinted crimson. What the team was doing in your tear stained glory you were unaware nor did you care. You sat on the edge of the ambulance as Reid made sure you were taking care of properly like a polite version of a scientific Karen. He leaned in towards you, his head titled looking at your face.

“She has a scratch on her cheek, you might want to check for a concussion.” advised the genius doctor. He straightened his index finger a few inches from your face asking you to follow it with your eyes. As you did the exercise, he noticed your eyes fluttering to hold back tears. When the medic was done with cleaning and sanitizing your bloody hands and went back inside the ambulance to gather anything needed to heal your wounds and medication, Spencer sat down next to you in silence as you stared in the distance. His eyes landed on your face when saw you put your hand down drying a tear. You felt him looking at you.

“Suit yourself, you can say you told me so” you said breaking silence.

“You know, Y/n…” he started taking your hand in his, you looked back at him, “I’m really glad you’re alive.” This made you immediately sink into his side taking him by surprise, unable to hold back the tears. He leaned into your touch, shutting his eyes feeling your pain and mentally sending you his energy in hope it might heal you.

The medic walking towards the two of you, when she looked up from the container in her hands full of medical products she stopped in her tracks; “Alright, I’ll come back, uh, in a minute.”

“You should hydrate yourself,” he advised handing you a water bottle as you put your arms in the sleeve of his jacket. As you took it, he rose from his feet a hand on your shoulder as he said; “I’m going to go check in with the others, you’re in good hands.” You nodded looking up at the medic smiling at you, you managed a weakened smile back.

When Reid was back with the team, he noticed they were arguing. Linda took Reid’s presence as his opportunity to shut the other members down; “Ah Reid, how is she ?”

“She’s injured but she’s holding up,” he answered fidgeting with his hands. The team was concerned about you but did not want to circle around you, make you talk to too many people at once since that would overwhelm you. Your injuries were quite superficial, you were scarred, you were bruised but you were going to be okay…physically.

Once back at the police department, you took off Reid’s windbreaker folding it on his desk with a post it note that said “Thanks :)” You went back to your desk changing into some more comfortable shoes than the heels you wore all night. You tried to channel your thought but as you were about to get lost in the turmoil, a low male voice made you breakout of your trans.

“Y/n, may I see you in the sheriff’s office ?” You nodded hurtfully knowing things were about to heat up for you, fearing you were in trouble.

You’ve been in Barnes’ office for quite a bit of time or at least longer than usual.

“How long ?” Luke asked.

“Oh at least 10 minutes.” Garcia answered, “and he isn’t the very chatty type.” The entire team was in front of the steps that led to offices, some leaned on desks, some fidgeted in place in impatience.

“He was going to kill me, Barnes!” You screamed.

“We would’ve protected you!”

“But you didn’t!” You felt your heart sink, “you didn’t.” There was a beat too long for your own taste. As you were about to leave Linda stopped you in your tracks; “Maybe you should take the rest of the week off, take some time for yourself.” You looked back at her in disgust, shocked she had the audacity to blame it all on you. “Sure, my pleasure.” you responded almost slamming the door behind you. However, you weren’t as pleased as your pride made you claim you were.

Once you were doing your walk of shame, Garcia hugged you and handed you her favorite cat squishy toy knowing you were in distress. They all encircled around your desk as you gathered your things.

“She is making me take the week off.” you informed them.

“Yeah, we heard so.” JJ said nodding sympathetically.

“We’re with you, Y/n.” Tara said.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let us know.” Garcia told you moving her hands. “Snacks, blankets, a shoulder to cry on.”

“If I do I will, thank you Garcia but I think I’ll be fine.” When you were ready to leave, Spencer offered to drive you back which you decline. They all stood there watching you leave confused at how ‘fine’ you looked despite experiencing a near death experience.

[the-silentium]

Bloodhound

Masterlist - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Fors is an Original planet. I do not give permission to people to use it for their own fics, the planet, the animals, the Nightmares, the lore or anything related to Fors. Thank you.

Pairing: Bad Batch x Reader

Words: 5172 words

Warnings: Blood, gore, curse, monsters, ANGST.

A/N: Yessss two chaps in two days!! Thanks to every single one of you who left comments and kuddos on the previous chap. You're all awesome 💜

**Also! Words in bold are words said in French, which means the clones can't understand it. I stopped writing the French in actual French for you guys, it'll be more useful in the future.**

Taglist:  @haloangel391​ / @lightning-wolffe​ / @cherrydemon5​ / @and-claudia​ / @clone-rambles​ / @mandaloriandin​ / @lackofhonor / @gaymasonjar

------------------------------------

//25 minutes earlier//

"That's not him! Guys!" You yelled in the comlink you fished in your pocket in a haste, almost making yourself trip when you pulled on the fabric of your pants at the same time.

The gap separating you from them was increasing more and more with each step they took. Damn their long legs and commando training, you weren't made to chase this kind of prey!

"I know his voice Y/N! That's him!" Wrecker was too damn sure of himself, his confidence affecting his brothers' judgment as well. 

It didn't take long for rule number one to be thrown overboard and surprisingly it wasn't by the one you expected, no offense Techie. 

"Stay under the trees!"

This couldn't be happening. They were all running headfirst to their deaths. According to the lore, Venustes didn't affect more than one person at a time. You couldn't know for sure if the lore was reliable or if the other three were following out of concern for the fake 99, but they had to snap out of their own mind trap soon or else they would all be dragged down. 

"H-" A clawed hand appeared inches from your face, cutting short your attempt to call out for your sergeant. 

Instinctively, you threw your body to the ground to avoid getting grabbed by the head and ultimately being crushed like a berry in its grasp and crawled to continue running. Alas, the Algax wasn't as dumb as you thought, his other hand swiftly reached forward to stab your right thigh with one of its fingers, preventing you from escaping. 

Your screams of pain were muffled by the hand pinning your face to the dirt, waiting before your lungs were empty of any air to lace its long sharp digits around your torso. The feeling barely registered through the thick fog of pain coming from your thigh. 

Your first instinct was to yell at the top of your lungs for help, maybe your distress would get them out of their haze, saving their lives as well as yours, but you quickly found out that your lungs were empty and unable to expand to receive more oxygen. 

The lack of air in your system mixed with the agonizing pain from the retreating talon in your thigh almost knocked you unconscious. You could feel your blood escaping your wound to drip down your legs and nourish the ground under your suspended form. 

It leaned closer, a low crackling sound escaped the slits on its temples. With considerable efforts, your good leg moved up to push against its torso to keep its horrifying face away from yours, the up-close view causing more tears to gather in your eyes. 

Fear and the lack of oxygen quickly took over your body in the form of violent shivers shooking your whole frame. The building pressure encompassing you once more was excruciating, your bow laid on the ground out of reach while your arms were pinned down along your sides, keeping you from stabbing your way out of the situation. 

All you could do was scream in your head out of pain and fear, waiting until your bones gave up under the tightening grasp to pierce your organs and kill you slowly. The boys seemed way too entranced to come to your aid, leaving you to feel as miserable as when you were hunting for the village, without back up and entirely alone. If you were lucky, you'd die alone without another beast feasting on your still alive-but-unable-to-move self. This would be a nice death, as horrible as it sounded. 

You hoped the boys would survive though. Even if they apparently totally forgot that you were there. Not that this came to you as a surprise. People who gravitate around you for some time always tend to go away on their own, leaving you behind just like the clones. But you couldn't hate them for it, your heart already knew it was coming and had prepared itself for this right moment. 

After all, they had to lie to their chain of command and train a primitive idiot how to fly a ship, they were trapped on this infernal planet once again because you nearly died and they hadn't seen the Shinehorn sneaking its way into their ship, being too busy fussing over your comatose self. Oh and let's not forget that you ended an innocent's life right in front of them without warning. It was only a matter of time before they left. 

Plus, if they were so desperate to meet this 99, it surely meant that he was highly special to them whereas you were the newbie, so no you weren't mad. You merely wished you had someone who could make you forget everything around like this 99. It seemed nice to have someone that important.  

And finally, if you died maybe you would find a way to come back to haunt them. This could be fun, you could mess with Crosshair's rifle, disturb Tech while he was tweaking with his prototypes, pushing Wrecker around to your liking because he couldn't possibly defend himself against you anymore and most important of all, you could mess with Hunter by constantly untying his goddamn bandana. It would drive them all mad, you knew it. 

After some thoughts, you knew they would make it off this planet alive. Together they had a good chance. Hunter's acute senses along with their brains and elite commando training gave them an advantage the natives never had. Hopefully, they would stay in these parts of the jungle until daylight, where they knew how to deal with the monsters living around. 

Yeah... Good luck guys. 

Eyes closed, you waited for the inevitable snaps of your bones. It resonated between the trees, sickening and disgusting you to the core, but you weren't flooded under any more pain than the one radiating from your thigh. Instead, you felt nauseous for a whole second when you were once again thrown away, landing on the ground harshly. 

Your body rolled on the dirt, bouncing a couple of times under the force of impact. For as far as you remembered there wasn't a single time in your life when you've been thrown around as much as tonight. This was getting tiring and it’s been dark for only a bit more than two hours. Lucky you. 

Still laying on your back, you breathed erratically to provide the much-needed oxygen to your organs, watching upside down the Algax receiving a second arrow to the head, effectively scaring it away. 

A hunter. You were saved. You were fine. 

Huffing, your body went limp at the lack of imminent danger and talons menacing your life. Maybe you could rest-

"Shit. She's really alive?" A hunter you recognized as Farlan walked out of the shadows to slowly approach your form like you were a trapped animal. 

"So it's true then. It's your fault they're back." Another Hunter spat, literally, missing your face by an inch. Kerth never liked you, obviously. 

You would have liked to say that those were the hunters you desperately wanted to come and rescue you, but then it would be a lie. None of them appreciated your presence even slightly so they all meant the same thing. This will be a drag. 

"Now, who's back? And why is it always my fault?" You pushed on your forearm to sit straight, grunting at the pain in your right leg. 

Shit. The hole left by the talon wasn't big, approximately two inches wide, but it was bleeding profusely. It was sickening to be able to see the ground through your flesh so you opted to keep pressure on the wound with your hands, camouflaging the hole like it wasn't even there. If only the pain could disappear as easily...

"The nightmares. They're back because you're still alive." Kerth pulled a piece of gauze from a pocket on his belt, the sight of the medical supply pulled a relieved sigh out of you. 

Wait what?

"So the council wants a word." He said with so much venom that your heart skipped a beat. This wasn't good. At. All. 

Before you could react, the gauze found its way in your mouth, quickly followed by an irritating rope that despite your weak thrashing around got attached behind your head. 

You were brutally pushed onto your belly, hands pulled behind your back to be attached tightly with skillful fingers. A muffled scream escaped your mouth when a knee pressed onto your wounded thigh, tears joining your blood on the dirt. 

"Because of you, I've lost friends tonight. I'll make sure to pay you a visit once the council is done with your stupid ass." He growled in your ear. 

Oh, you were so dead. Your bet was on the council, but if by some miracle they weren't the one to put an end to your life, then Kerth was the next bet. Maybe you shouldn't have sabotaged his weapons the day of the hunt competition. Or put some poison ivy in his hunting clothes. Or laugh whole-heartedly when he got shit on by a Furant during his ceremonial speech in front of the whole village. Or… one of the numerous pranks you pulled on him for payback of his daily shitty attitude towards you.

Farlan was the one to pull you up and push you forward, leaving the job to spot the monsters to Kerth. The thought of running or fighting was completely futile. You wouldn't run very far with your untreated leg, there was the possibility that they would shoot you down out of spite too. They seemed very fed up at you for some reason. How could you be the cause of the nightmares reappearing? Also, they were gone? Since when?!

This was getting weirder and weirder. 

_________________

//Present - 10:48 pm//

"I got her position. She's close” The corners of Wrecker’s lips lifted slightly. They could track you, everything would be fine from here. You weren’t lost. “and unmoving." The whispered last words rang loud and clear in all the clones' ears.

Wrecker's breath wasn't the only one to abruptly stop. 

The smile quickly left his face, as well as a majority of his blood. You couldn’t be dead. This couldn’t be happening. 

“Where?” Hunter’s hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly around his blaster,

“700 meters that way.” He pointed deeper into the jungle, where they all came from. 

A weight fell on his stomach and he had to force a deep breath in. You hadn’t made it out of the jungle with them. They had outrun you and left you behind on your own. 

Without a word Hunter took the lead, Tech following right behind with Crosshair on his heels. Wrecker took a single second to gulp down his guilt and shake his arms lightly to regain feeling in his body and not worsen his wounds. He followed silently behind the group, squinting attentively to discern the shadows with his half working equipment.

“300 meters.”

You were resourceful. You knew your planet like the back of your hand. There was no way you were dead. 

“100.”

Please 99. Don’t let her be dead.

Crosshair stumbled on Tech as the brown-haired clone abruptly stopped, looking around like he was searching for something. With a step forward, Tech crouched to grab a small object on the ground to show it to the rest of them. 

“Kriff!” Hunter punched a nearby tree, exhausted by this succession of ill-fated events. There in Tech’s hand was your comlink, their only way of locating you on this living prison that was this planet. 

Wrecker held onto the last hope he had. There wasn’t any blood, you could still be fine. Maybe you’d dropped your comlink while running away. 

“Hunter.” Crosshair’s voice was unsettling. His usual dry snarky self was replaced by a more small and scared tone that the soldier hadn’t heard in a while. “That’s a lot of blood.” 

And it was. The puddle was big enough and it looked like you'd struggled quite a bit in it too.

The world was spinning. He knew battalions lost men every time they went out on missions. It was a common occurrence for soldiers to die and the remaining ones had to suck it up ad continue the fight. But Wrecker wasn’t used to this. From the very beginning, they were the four of them, surviving each mission thrown their way to fight another day. He never got attached to anyone out of his Batch but you and losing his first comrade in the field hit him hard. 

Sure, the death of 99 left him in crumbles but with you it was different. He was supposed to have your back just like you had his. You saved his life and he didn’t save yours. 

As his eyes fell to the ground in shame, he noticed a small object at the tip of his boot. 

“Tech.” He called, as he raised back up with your earbud in hand.

“So we can’t contact her, she can’t contact us, she’s unarmed and wounded.” Crosshair resumed the situation, your bloody bow, and quiver in hand. "If she's not dead, she'll be soon." 

"There's no way she'd run deeper into the jungle wounded and without her bow. It's suicide." Hunter tore his gaze from the large puddle at his feet to follow sparse dark spots staining the grass to their right. "It could be a new critter that doesn't kill right away or she found someone or something else to protect her." 

So there was a possibility that you weren't dead. Wrecker felt relieved that his brother came to that conclusion, his own mind was working in slow motion, too distressed at his feelings to allow him to concentrate and think. 

"Whatever it is, we'll find her." 

Even if the words weren't meant to reassure him, Wrecker felt more at ease knowing that they had a way to track you and that you were possibly safe with someone or something. All he hoped now was that you were alive long enough for them to find you and that ultimately, you'd forgive him. 

Wrecker rushed behind his brothers who followed the trail, jogging at a steady rhythm, slow enough to be able to detect the monsters that might target them but fast enough that they would catch up to you at some point. 

It didn't take long for the first Algax to cut their road, the shy creature poking its terrifying head from behind a large trunk as soon as it heard them approach.

Wrecker tensed, already gripping the handle of his blaster with his left hand despite the knowledge that his weapon was useless against them. Having his blaster in hand, even if it wasn't the right one, gave him a sense of security. 

The dark blue creature didn't have time to lift its hand to reach for them that an arrow flew right into the trunk next to its head. The beast hissed, its long fingers hitting the arrow in anger before moving out of its hiding spot to engage the group. 

"Damn thing." Crosshair growled, at the bow in his hand or at the beast, Wrecker didn't know. All he knew was that he almost cheered when his brother managed to scare the beast away with two arrows piercing its chest. 

"Nice work." Tech approved, light sticks in hand instead of his blasters. 

"You were right. It is primitive." Crosshair growled, following Hunter who resumed the tracking of your blood on the ground. 

"I'm always right." He chirped, eyes scanning the shadows. 

"Debatable." His brother scoffed back. 

"Wrecker." Hunter called from the front, eyes quickly darting forward when he caught his brother's eyes. "Let your blaster. Take your blade." 

"Okay." Against his best instinct, the clone let go of his DC-17, letting it fall on the jungle floor to grab his vibroblade in a firm grip. The blade felt weird in his left hand but it would do. Knives worked on those things, he was still safe. 

The surroundings were calm for a while, and the more time they spent no crossing path with any monster, the more the tension built between them. Apprehension kept them on their toes, eating away at their nerves slowly. 

The next Algax they encountered stood tall in their way like he was challenging them to jump at it. Maybe they were used to being at the top of the food chain, just like the clones were used to being at the top of their game. Regrettably, the clones were in way over their head on this planet but they would make sure that they weren't the only ones.

Instead of slowing down, Hunter charged at the Algax, stopping only when the sharp metal of his vibroblade was deeply set into the monster's chest. 

Wrecker waited for a screech, for the creature to start thrashing around or flee like the one that fell down a tree with you. Seconds passed and the Algax lifted its arms like nothing happened, like there wasn't a long knife jabbed in its thorax and made a move to grab the sergeant who swiftly jumped away, blade still in hand. 

"What?!" Hunter exclaimed, facing the creature once again. 

An arrow in the head managed to get the desired effect, the tall beast running away in its signature hiss. 

"Why didn't it work? Her knife worked on them!" Hunter was getting more and more on edge. 

"Maybe it could be because our technology is too advanced or because our equipment is not native." Tech remarked. "It is logical in a sense. This planet created its own rules to protect itself from invaders, so it may have created a sort of protection against anything exterior to its own resources."

"It is possible?" Wrecker found it quite hard to believe. A planet controlling what could kill or not? Blasters could kill anything!

"The planet changes beliefs in the real thing. Yeah I think it's possible." He deadpanned with an eye roll.

Suddenly, the vibroblade in Wrecker's hand didn't provide the same sense of security as before. All their hope resided in Crosshair and Tech's hands. 7 arrows and 3 light sticks. Talk about limited resources. If only he had his backpack containing all his explosives, he could get something done. 

Too deep in thought, Wrecker didn't notice the wall of dirt right in front of them until he almost rammed into it. They were back to their landmark. 

"We missed each other." Hunter growled in frustration at the sight of the blood splatters leaving the safety of the trees to disappear under the waterfall. 

Wrecker understood immediately, his own frustration building in his chest. They entered the jungle and you got out of it. Maker knew Wrecker was used to bad timing but this was a new low. Fate was laughing right in their faces. 

Cautiously, they left the dense vegetation to venture into the open area where Wrecker almost became bird food. His eyes were fixed in the open sky, some stars were visible through the small clouds. The bright moon wasn't at its highest yet, Wrecker estimated that there was another hour before the satellite reached its peak. 

The provided light allowed him to relax the muscles around his eyes. He hasn't been squinting for long that the beginning of a headache started to form in his skull. 

As they neared the wet dirt, three sets of footprints were easily distinguishable in the wet dirt. The spacing told them that none of you were running. If nothing was chasing you, then why weren't you patched up?

"We have to find her quick." Crosshair spat what every brother thought quietly. 

If you were with people that didn't patch you up and had plenty of time to do so then they weren't on your side. Even without medical supplies, they should have been able to stop the bleeding one way or the other.

"Stay close." Hunter called, venturing closer to the waterfall where your blood disappeared. 

With each step forward, the sound of the waterfall hitting the river below became more and more deafening. The sound was assaulting his ears to a point where he almost ripped his helmet off to cover his ears. He managed to hold on, focussing instead on his leader who clearly had more problems than him. 

Hunter had removed his own helmet to pass it on to Tech in hope of covering some of the uproars with his hands. The relief must not have been enough for his arms began to shake, his hands pushing firmly against the sides of his head.  

If only he could reach for his brother and take some of his pain, Wrecker would do it in a heartbeat. 

"Let's make this quick." Crosshair took the front, his steps taking him behind the waterfall where a tin border of rocks formed a path to the other side.

Tech nodded his head towards Hunter, his hands already full with the sticks and the extra helmet. 

"Got him." Wrecker confirmed. His left hand reached for his brother's pauldron right after sheathing his blade. 

With practiced movements, Wrecker bent to carefully set his pain down, now wasn't the time to listen to his body. 

With slow steps the tank walked on the wet trail of rocks behind the roaring wall of water, his arm tightening slightly around the body on his shoulder. If Hunter reacted Wrecker couldn't hear it. 

The rocks were flat enough that he didn't slip once. The problem appeared on the other side, where the blood trail ended abruptly a couple of feet away from the bank.

"Where to now?" Wrecker asked, still supporting his limp brother. 

"No fucking idea." Crosshair grumbled, visor moving from right to left where the jungle extended as far as his eyes could see in both directions.

Hunter's feet returned to the ground when soft pats disturbed the tall clone carrying him, his hands were at his sides, fingers clenched into fists as he grounded himself through deep breaths. 

"Are you okay?" Wrecker dared to ask, his worry for his family finally escaping him. 

Hunter usually took more time to recover from an overwhelming episode like this one and it was apparent that he still needed time, but he opened his eyes nonetheless, ignoring Wrecker's question to grip onto Tech for support and deeply breathe in, brows furrowed in concentration. 

His head turned in a different direction as the three remaining clones scrutinized the line of trees for signs of a threat. 

"It's faint." Hunter whispered, still deep within himself. "Blood. That way." He pointed at their right before reaching for his helmet in the engineer's hands. 

"You're good to walk?" Tech questioned, watching his C.O. warily. His hands lifted slightly in apprehension that Hunter may faint under the pressure he was forcing on his body.

"Yes." It was weak but firm, leaving no place for discussion, not that either of them would have said anything. They knew what you meant to the sergeant so it was better for their sakes to not put themselves between you and him. 

Back in position, clone force 99 advanced through the trees, their pace building at each passing second. They were almost running when finally they stopped, their boots almost slipping under them in a sticky substance. 

"Karkin' fuck." Hunter cursed, his hands tightening around his vibroblade, eyes glued to the corpse lying at their feet. 

"That was you smelled?" Crosshair pushed the eviscerated loth wolf with the tip of his foot. 

"Ye-"

Screams resonated in the distance, cutting Hunter off. Wrecker's heartbeat loudly in his ears, almost covering the yells of pain under its incessant percussion against his ribcage.

Every single one of the soldiers breathed out in relief at the lack of a female scream. However, they tensed in apprehension as the screams faded and howls filled the air in their place. A new beast was around and they didn't have any idea of how to react to it. Run? Hide? Would the knife work this time? Or the bow? 

"There were two distinct voices. Males." Tech stopped his recon of the surroundings to catch his batch's eyes. "Maybe it's them." 

"Worth a shot." Hunter nodded, already moving in the direction of the screams, although this time he kept a slower pace, fully conscious that they were in unknown territory, charging at unknown beasts. 

The screams weren't too far, but they obviously came from the opposite direction Hunter initially pointed them to. Hopefully, they would find you there, wounded but alive, and he wouldn't beat himself too much for his mistake. 

Despite knowing that they were useless, Wrecker retrieved his vibroblade from its sheath. The need for a weapon in his hand was too great to ignore, every cell of his being felt the danger ahead and wanted to be prepared although he could never really be prepared for anything this planet threw at him. 

He cringed every time a twig broke under his boots, the soft sound resonating in his own ears like the grenades he liked to throw on the battlefield, resonating into the silent jungle to scream their position at anything that dared to listen. Maybe it was paranoïa slowly creeping its way into his brain, using the aftereffect of the corrupted hallucinations he suffered to play around with his senses. 

Just like right now, the more he concentrated to decipher the shadows with his half working helmet, the more strange the forms became. At first, it was spots from his constant squinting, then he saw small blue lights on the horizon, dancing haphazardly around. After a couple of blinks, the pale lights disappeared as fast as they arrived, leading the bald clone to shrug them off as his eyes playing tricks on him. The constant stress was definitely getting a toll on him, and let’s not talk about the two dives into a strong current. Once this night was over and they get back at the Marauder, he’ll sleep for two weeks straight. 

Softs whines could be heard over unnerving growls and occasional barks, quickly catching the group’s attention. 

“Blood.” Hunter informed them over comm, his whisper almost blending with the rustles of leaves in front of them. 

The group halted in their tracks as Hunter raised his fist, Crosshair already had the bow cranked, ready to shoot at whatever alerted their leader. Carefully peeking over Tech’s shoulder, Wrecker craned his neck to the side to see what was happening around the boulder they used as cover.

He could see the posterior of a large animal, jerking successively like it was pulling at something. Disturbing yelps filled the air and the animal fell backward with its prize tightly encased between its teeth. It rolled near their position but was too preoccupied with the bloody arm in its possession to detect the clones observing it. 

Wrecker knew Tech was recording, there was no way he wasn’t. Not when the monster before them had no skin whatsoever to cover its bones. The canine-like monstrosity easily reached Tech’s waist, had no external skin, leaving its bones to shine under the green tint of their night vision, muscles were observable between the ribs and along the joints, but that was it. No skin. 

"If only we could capture one." He muttered to which Hunter answered with a glare under his helmet. 

As it ate, Tech’s appreciative whispers filled the comm, muttering about the extra smaller ribs that circled the abdomen of the monster, keeping its intestines from falling all over the ground and marveling about the movement of each muscle, totally bare for his curious eyes to see and analyze at will. 

"Fine fine. We won't be getting one of those perfect study specimens." He grumbled, reporting his gaze to the organism that crunched the humerus with only moderate difficulty. "Fascinating." 

"No, it's not." Crosshair elbowed Hunter who redirected his gaze to a hollow tree where a figure was shivering, hidden in the darkness. 

"That's her." He confirmed, the sniper's impeccable sight was not to be doubted.

"Why aren't they attacking her?" Wrecker questioned, puzzled. 

Two other beasts were walking only steps away from your poor hiding spot, ignoring you totally despite acknowledging your presence with occasional glances towards you.

"I have some theories but they are all shots in the dark." Tech answered when he realized that they were all waiting for his highlights. 

"That's just perfect." Crosshair growled. 

The tall clone counted 4 of them, walking between two bodies to tear at the flesh and stain their white skulls with fresh blood. 

He wondered if his brute strength would be enough to smash their bones if needed when he noticed you slowly standing up, hands behind your body to steady yourself against the trunk. 

"Maybe she could come here instead of us going there." Wrecker pointed out. If only he could catch your attention without catching theirs. "Tech. Do you still have your laser?" 

The toy they kept around to annoy Crosshair whenever he was too relaxed on leave could be more useful than its original purpose.

Wrecker was amazed at how unafraid of the canines you were, standing next to one of them to pull at the bow on one of the beheaded corpses with your foot.

"Good idea." Tech walked to the other side of the rock where he could have a clear view of your limping form, slowly making your way toward one of the dead bodies. 

"She's tied up." Remarked Hunter, his voice merely above a whisper but frightening nonetheless. Your aggressors should be glad that the dogs got them first.

Crosshair had the creature in his aim, an arrow already pointed at its head if it dared to make a move in your direction. 

At one point the bow got stuck, the snapping mouth of the monster next to you was deeply buried into the open chest of what once was a man, blocking your progression toward the shoulders.

Wrecker's breath blocked in his throat and Crosshair cursed under his breath as they saw you tentatively poke the skull of the monster with a very shaky foot before almost falling on your ass with a muffled yelp at how quickly you moved it back when the big bony dog jerked its head up to look at you. 

Your wide eyes stared back at it until it lost interest and moved further down the body to nib at some abdominal organs. Quickly you pulled out the bow with your foot, head tilted down to your chest to look at your work.

Tech used this moment to point the red laser at your chest, immediately catching your attention by moving it from side to side. Wrecker grinned as your head lifted in their direction, eyes wide in surprise. You spotted them in seconds, maybe because Wrecker was waving. 

Words were muffled by the rope around your mouth, but the wild shaking of your head was clear. Even with only a half functioning helmet, Wrecker could read the fear in your gaze. 

Tech couldn't close the light fast enough. One skull turned at the source of the small brightness. As soon as it spotted them, earsplitting yaps covered the snarls of the feasting animals, catching the pack’s attention simultaneously. Soon 4 pairs of predatory red eyes stared at them, their maws chattering in anticipation.

[y2katsuki]

you changed me

angst angst but also traitor!y/n  :o i also left the quirk part empty, so you could envision any quirk you want to have 

word count: 2124

“You will go in, collect and report.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Fail and you do not see tomorrow.”

“Yes, father.”

Father stood tall, his 7′1 figured your 5′5 figured.  You learned from day one that you were born to be a pawn, not to be loved.  Looking straight, lifeless, your father placed his hands on your shoulders before leaning to say something before he left.

“I blessed you with some of the All For One, use it wisely.  You have always been a fast and smart learner.  Don’t fail me.”

You woke up gasping.  Covered in sweat.  A hand crept up, gently pulling you into a hug.  You look up to see the blonde boy.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.  I’m here.”  He soothes you.  You hug onto him.  Just close your eyes tightly. 

The day is upon.  The day, your father and his league will come.  A day that is supposed to be the happiest moment, graduation.  You came into U.A. as a regular student, meant to collect and observe the upcoming heroes.  That was your mission, nothing else.  However, something did happen.  Emotions and feelings happened.  Being trapped with brats for a couple of years, when you had no exposure to people, is overwhelming.  Your father would tell you to detach from any sorta feelings, it will only obstruct goals.  He never showed any emotions as he beat up down to build you up to the perfect pawn.  He never calculated how being with others during a period of emotions will affect you.  After all, you are still a kid.

“I’m okay.  I just...it’s an old memory now.  It’s okay because you are here.”  You sadly smile. 

Love.  Love was a scary emotion you experienced.  The only emotion you experience was fear.  So when your heart tightens, skipped a beat, or felt full, you thought you were dying.  Only to find out that these feelings were love.  You were in love with the angry boy in class 1-A, Bakugou Katsuki.  He was first a rival, a strong one.  You observed him and his childhood friend until you realized that your eyes only followed the explosions.

“I will always be here, dumbass.  I know I don’t say it much, but you are truly the person I care and love for.”  He squeezed you.  Your guilty eats you up.

“I love you too.  I just want to be with you tonight, please.  Last day as students, am I right?”  You bury your face into his chest and he laughs.  The two of you lay.

Bakugou sleeps, as you lay restless.  You slid out quietly before putting on some shoes.  You walk the halls of the dorm, in taking everything.  Might as well, you will be dead tomorrow.  Walking to the places that you and Bakugou spent time at.  Where you built memories, became friends with others, and more.  Never realizing that tears started to flow out.  So this is sadness, extreme sadness.

Tomorrow One For All will come.  When the heroes will least expect it.  You didn’t want to go, you didn’t want to help him.  You wanted to stay with your friends and boyfriend.  With the people who loved and accept you.  You also didn’t want to die without apologizing and giving an explanation to those you loved.  Even if they decide to forgive you, you know that One For All will hunt you down, troubling everyone.

“So he will be here tomorrow.”  Lifting your head, seeing All Might, in his smaller form.

“Y-yeah.  I-I don’t know....wh-what to do?”  You cried.

All Might had found you out after the sports festival.  He recognized that quirk anywhere.  His enemy, All For One.  You couldn’t hide it anymore.  The guilty was finally eating you whole.  You told him everything.  You told him how you didn’t want to do it.  That you had grown to love everyone.  He listened.  He couldn’t blame you.  A child, born to be a pawn.  Instead, he hugged you.  Told you that he would take care of it.  That you will get to live old with your classmates, happily.  After some time, you and All Might when to a private room to talk.

“There are only two options.  I die in my father's hands or...I will be arrested and hate by those I love.  To be quite frank, dying is not a bad option.” You spoke after calming down.

“You won’t be arrested, I will protect you.”  

“Yeah, but everyone I love will hate me.  I-I don’t want that.  Especially Bakugou.  Dying not that bad, I won’t have to deal with him.  But...I do want to leave something for everyone.”  Reaching into your pocket, you pull out a crumpled up letter.  “After everything, whether I die in his hands or lose everyone.  Please give them this letter, if they are willing to listen to anything I said.”  You hand the letter, you struggled to write for the last few days, to him.

All-day Bakugou asked if you were okay, saying you looked pale and sick.  You told him it just because you are nervous about the ceremony and sad that this was the last day all of your classmates will be together.  You were on edge.  There was nothing to do but go with your father, to avoid any of your friends to get hurt.  You could feel the air grow colder.

It happened in a flash.  People screaming, loud sounds.  Villains.  The only word that you could hear from the screams.  The class and pro-heroes spring to action, running towards the commotion and helping people get somewhere safe.  You see everything in slow motion before feel Yaoyorozu grabs your hand.

“Let’s go Y/N!  We have to help.”

The two of you running to the action, seeing the pro-heroes fighting off the villains.  You spot All Might, before running towards him.  Before reaching him, you were knocked down.  You look up to see the youngest member, Toga Himiko.

“It’s been a while y/n.”  She bends down to your level, smiling.  “Time to go home.”

You strike her.  She looked surprised, before getting instance to fight you.  She laughs, the reason why clicking quickly in her mind.  She runs towards you, with her knife ready in her hand.  You dodge before kicking her down. 

“Don’t tell me you pity these heroes.  That gold coming from you!”  She screams while taking jabs at you.  You grab her wrist twisting it, her weapon falling.  Twisting her around, pushing your knee in her back, and pinning her down.  

“You know nothing about me.” 

Looking up, you see All Might struggling with your father.  You get up, leaving a laughing Toga on the ground.  With All For One back towards you, you charge up your quick.  Taking a chance to land a hit on him.  He looked back and sees you there.

“Ah, there you are.”  All Might stands next to you.  Everyone’s eyes moving towards.  “You are making this harder than it should be y/n.”  The villains back away, retreating to One For All side.

“I won’t allow you, to hurt my friends.”

“We didn’t drag them into this, you did.”  His hand reached down to grab you.  You were frozen in fear, remembering that he is still more powerful than you and he could easily kill you and your friends without a second thought.

All Might aims for a hit, to protect you, only for your father to avoid it.  Sending All Might a distance away.  You look in total fear.  You see all your classmates and heroes look at you.  Until your eyes meet Bakugou’s.

“Y-y/n.  Come here.”  He said, voice shaking.  Your heart breaking in the process.

“She won’t.”  You feel the presence of your father behind you.  “We don’t want to fight you heroes, we just came to collect something that belongs to us.”  His hands fall on your shoulders.  The looks of your classmates and teachers scared you more than death.

“I-It’s not true!  R-right....y/n.”  Bakugou stepped up.

“I’m s-sorry Katsuki.”  His face made you want to die.  “I-I had too, b-but you guys changed me.  You changed me.  I want to fight along with you.  That’s why I will prove it.”  You felt a flame ignite inside you.

You wanted to at least have the chance to prove that you choose them.  You chose to change.  You want to try to prove that your feelings were real.  Your quirk started to flare up, as your emotions got stronger.  You grab onto your father hand, that laid on you should before turning to place a hit.  You abruptly stopped, your hand being a few centimeters away from his chest.  You look down, seeing the open wounds on your abdominal region.  You let a shaky breath out before looking up to meet your father’s eyes.  For the first time ever, you see your father’s eyes, lifeless, and no emotion.

“Worthless.”  Was the only word he said, before dropping you.  Your vision started to darken, your body getting colder.  You watched has your father and his league leave.  Your arm reached out towards him.

You feel a nudge, slowly turning your head over.  All Might tried to apply pressure on your wounds.  His mouth moving but nothing is coming out.  You then see your classmate approach you, Bakugou coming closer to your darken vision.

“I-I tri-tried...” Was the only thing you could mutter.

“Kid, I’m so sorry, I thought I could protect you.”  All Might look at you, knowing you were slipping.

“Can I?”  All Might looks up to see Bakugou.  He nodded, as he backed away.  Bakugou falls onto his knees, placing his hand on the wound.  You grab his hand.

“I’m sorry.  I wanted to tell you every day...I wa-wanted you all to know how you c-changed me....”  You couldn’t finish due to coughing up blood.

“Stop talking dumbass.  Focus on living.”  Bakugou’s watery eyes meet your dull ones.

You slowly reach into your pocket.  Grabbing the letter you wanted to give Bakugou before leaving.  You shakily pass it to him.  You take his hand again, and with your last breath, you spoke your last words.

“I love you, you changed me for the better.  Now go and become the best hero...”  

Bakugou’s tears flow out, as your eyes lose the last bit of light.  He screamed your name, as the medic team covered your body and took you away.  Kirishima and Deku grabbing Bakugou, stopping him from trying to hold you from everyone.

It’s been nearly a month since your death.  Bakugou looks at the letter, that is still covered in your blood, you left.  Never once opened it, until today.

Dear Katsuki,

If you are reading this, I have either left or died.  You probably already know the truth.  Let me start from the beginning.  I was originally born and raised to be a pawn for my father, the plan was for me to collect information and report it back.  I had nothing to live for, no meaning in my life.  My father took all hope and meaning in my life.  That was until I meet you.  You arrogant, mean, and loud idiot, gave me a reason to live my life.  Being at this school gave me a lot of first.  My first time having fun, having emotions, having memories, and having my first love.  

Now, I want to apologize.  Every day the guilt ate me, it killed me.  Every day I wanted to tell you everything, but the thought of you hating me was worse than death.  Maybe dying isn’t so bad?  I’m not good at expressing my emotions.  However my love for you, I could write you a book.  I won’t bore you with my word though.

Katsuki Bakugou, I love you so much.  I love to see you smile and be a softie when no one is around.  I love being the big spoon, even though you won’t admit that you love being the small spoon.  I love your ambition to be the best hero ever.  I love everything about you.  Even if you cannot forgive me, I want you to know that everything I felt for you was real.  My feeling for you was never fake, it was the most real thing I have ever felt.

I love you so much.

-Y/N

Bakugo finally lets the tears he has held in since your death.  He hugged the letter close to his heart.

“Dumbass, of course, I forgive you.  I love you too.  Watch me become the number one hero.”  He spoke to the framed picture of you two, that sat next to his bed.  He laughs, as his tears stain his face.

[porcelain-blue]

Summer Smiles

Lan Wangji thinks of his mother, and the easy lilting curl of her lips when she teases him, pinching his cheeks and settling him in her lap. 

He remembers being 6 years old and even then wondering why mother was never outdoors, when she stared out the window of her house into the far mountains with such wistfulness it ached in his little heart, too young to understand, just old enough for it to ache. 

He asked, once, what mother liked best.

“You, Zhan-er, and Huan-er,” she had said, easy as anything. He had shaken his head, stubborn.

“What else do you like?”

She had laughed, then, gathering her two sons close to lean against her robes as she carded her hands through their hair. 

“Well, my treasures, I like running.”

“But there’s no running in the Cloud Recesses, Mother.” Lan Huan had said, serious and confident as though it were an indomitable truth. 

A small smile, quiet and sad this time.

“So there isn’t, baobei. But outside the Cloud Recesses, there is an open sky, and big, wide fields without any mountains for days. In the summer, the grasses are long, and the paths are dusty. One day, you two will see the land like this, with nothing but a qiankun bag and swords beneath your little feet. And you will know freedom, and run as fast and as far as you want.” 

“Will you come with us, Mother?” Lan Wangji had asked. 

“Of course, baobei, of course I will.” 

When she had hugged them goodbye that night, Wangji did not understand why her grip had been so hard it hurt. 

---

When he had met Wei Ying, it was not the impudence, or the rule breaking, or even the feeling of finally being matched, blade for blade in the moonlight of the only home he has ever known that had incensed him so. It was the fact that he was smiling at him, teasing and sure and with the kind of respect and regard that Wei Wuxian had inherent in him for other people. Wangji had known, after months of knowing him, that Wei Wuxian was kind, strong, and righteous. But it angered him to be smiled at, when the only person who was ever allowed to laugh at him and tease and be kind to him was gone, only the ghost of a memory remaining. 

He hated how the memory of his mother’s smile was now tucked alongside myriad other ones of Wei Ying, laughing and crowing, eyes bright. He hated that by now, there were more memories of Wei Ying than he had of his mother. 

He hated that he wanted more, to hoard every smile for himself alone. The subsequent horror at the idea of being anything like his father had nearly broken him that night. 

-----

After Wei Ying had died, Wangji had gone to his brother and uncle, and told  them that he was leaving the Cloud Recesses. 

“I wish to stand on the side of justice. I wish to see the wide fields and know the world as I have never known it,” he had said, and thought of his mother and Wei Ying in the same breath, holding grief old and new in the space of his chest. 

He packed his scant supplies in a qiankun bag embroidered with gentians (bought, guiltily, in Caiyi when he was younger), secured Bichen on his back, and walked down the meandering mountain path, dressed in mourning white. 

He wandered south, and made good on his promise, saving people as he could, joining in on night-hunts when he ran into younger disciples. He never stayed long, never took payment or credit, and earned his title Hanguang-Jun, as though the brightness of his robes were for bringing light to the living instead of honoring his dead. 

When at last he reached the middle plains of the country, mountains only a faint smudge against the yellow summer sky, he took a breath, and lingered as long as he could. When he walked down the dusty paths he let his hands brush against the tall grasses swaying in the hot breeze. He did not mind when the dust stained the hem of his robes. When the path ended at a well, he took a drink, re-filled his water pouch, and continued walking. 

If Wei Ying were here, he would want to run in these wide fields.

He does not run, but he walks through golden grasses, and remembers the people he loved. 

--- 

After Guanyin temple, after everything, Wei Ying asks where they should go. 

“South,” he says, “I would like to see the fields with you.” 

Wei Ying had smiled, then, eyes curving into a little crinkle of delight as he slipped his hand into Lan Zhan’s.

“South it is, then.” 

He thinks of running through those grasses, Wei Ying’s laughter light on the wind, and smiles. He wonders if Wei Ying will marry him there, with nothing but the open sky above them, barely a mountain in sight. The farthest place from Gusu he has ever been. 

“Wei Ying. I have bowed to Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian. Would you bow to my mother?” 

Wei Ying leans against him, warm from the heat of the summer sun. 

“En, of course I would. Do we have to go back to Gusu for that? I’ve never seen the Lan ancestral hall.”

Lan Wangji thinks about the cold stone of the ancestral hall, the black carved tablet with his mothers name and nothing else. He thinks of her smile and shakes his head.

“Here. Let’s do it here. Under the open sky. She would like that better, I think.” 

He sees Wei Ying’s flicker of understanding. 

They return to town to get supplies, at Wei Ying’s insistence. At dawn they make their way into the field, the first rays of the sun lighting everything yellow-gold. Wei Ying leads him by the hand to a tree where the grasses are a little shorter, and sets down a couple of offerings from his qiankun bag.

When Wei Ying sets down a handkerchief embroidered with gentian flowers, his heart aches full to bursting. Wei Ying pours tea and sets it in front of the offerings. 

They bow to the memory of his mother, and then to each other, surrounded by the rustling of tall grasses, and the wide open plains of the country. --- A/N: look i’ve been listening to the mdzs audio drama and I got to the part where zewu-jun is telling wwx about their mom being trapped and I thought about how both lan zhan’s mother and wwx both love to tease lwj and like.. OF COURSE he falls in love with him, the boy is basically programmed to equate smiling and teasing with the deepest, safest love he has ever known. No this is not a mommy issue situation, its a there’s-something-about-you-that-is-so-different-to-me-but-so-familiar-it-aches kind of situation. hnghh

[fuckallthegood0nesweretaken]

New World CH. Two

Title: Problems

Words: 2,572

Warnings: Strong language, mentions of rape and death (no actual rape or death)

A/N: Here’s chapter two! Hope you enjoy!

If you’d like to request something, send me an ask. I’d love to write for you! 

If you’d like to support me, I have a Ko-Fi!

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Daryl Dixon Masterlist

Walking Dead Masterlist

Masterlist

~~~~~~~

[Y/n]

When you woke up the next morning, Adeline had managed to starfish in her sleep and you laughed softly, brushing her hair out of her face. You heard a groan come from behind you and you whipped around to see a sleepy Sam sitting up.

 “Jesus, Sam, don’t scare me like that,” you said.

 “Sorry,” Sam said with a yawn. You just shook your head and looked around.

 “Where’s Dean?”

 “Probably outside getting food. You know how he is in the mornings.”

 “Good to know that hasn’t changed,” you said with a laugh. Sniffing the air, you smelled eggs and pancakes.

 “Seems you haven’t either,” Sam teased.

 “Oh hush.”

 “We still have your things from before we got separated. Dean brought them into the tent last night while you were sleeping.” Sam pointed to the corner of the tent and you saw a duffel and a backpack.

 “Thanks.”

 “Get dressed then come get breakfast. We still have people to introduce you to.”

 “Alright. I’ll be out in a minute.”

 Sam gave you a smile before leaving the tent. You quickly got dressed and when you were putting on your shoes, Adeline woke up.

 “Mommy!” She launched herself at you and you caught her with a grunt.

 “Hey, baby,” you cooed as you picked her up. Adeline buried her face in your neck and clung to you.

 “I missed you,” she said, sniffing lightly.

 “Oh, baby, I missed you too.” You pressed a kiss to her hair and set her down. Wiping away her tears, you looked her in the eyes. “Why don’t you get dressed and we can go get some breakfast, yeah?”

 “Okay.”

 You kissed her forehead and helped her pick out an outfit for the day. Once she was all ready to go, the two of you walked out of the tent and to the campfire where breakfast was being served.

 “You’re up, good!” Carol said. She came up to you with two plates full of food and handed one to you and the other to Adeline. “I was just about to see if you were awake or not.”

 “Thank you. I appreciate it,” you said to her with a smile. “Do you know where my brothers are?”

 “They’re over by the house, talking with Rick and Hershel.” She started walking away and you followed her to the fire.

 “Hershel?”

 “The owner of the farm.”

 “Ah, okay. Makes sense. What are they talking about? Or is it a need to know thing?” You asked.

 “Now that Sophia’s found, they’re trying to see if Hershel will let us stay on the farm.”

 “I hope they do. It seems like a relatively safe place,” you said. “A place where these kids can grow up.”

 “I agree. Now why don’t you two go sit down and enjoy the food. I’m sure that the others would love to get to know you better.”

 “Alright. Thank you.”

 “You’re welcome, sweetie.” Carol poked Ada’s nose, making her giggle and you smile, before she walked away.

 Stomach growling, you sat down and ripped into your food. Moaning quietly, you didn’t see Lori piling more food on your plate or your brothers coming out of the house. Nobody complained about you getting extra food and you jumped when you felt a hand on your head. Reaching for your knife, Lori stopped you before you could stab Dean.

 “Woah, easy sweetheart. It’s just me,” Dean said.

 “Sorry,” you said with a sheepish grin. “Morning.”

 “Morning,” he said to you. He gave you a kiss on the forehead before sitting next to you, placing Ada on his lap. “Sorry for scaring you.”

 “It’s okay. Guess I’ve just been a bit tense.”

 “How did you make it all alone?” Dale asked. “Don’t want to offend, but you’re a small little thing. All by yourself all that time?”

 “It helped that I already knew how to use a gun and how to fight hand to hand with and without a knife. I already knew how to make traps and hunt so if I was successful I had something to eat. Slept in trees if there wasn’t any shelter around. I’m also light on my feet and know how to get around without being spotted.” You shrugged and shoved more food in your mouth.

 “She took me down pretty easy,” Daryl said through a mouthful of food. “I didn’t even know she was there ‘til a knife was at my throat.”

 “Atta girl,” Dean said with a grin.

 “Thanks,” you said to Dean. To Daryl you said, “I am sorry about that. You snuck up on me and I panicked.”

 “Thought I was a geek?”

 “No,” you shook your head. “I knew you weren’t one of them.”

 “You were worried about people?” Rick asked.

 “Yeah. It was about a month ago I think. Time is a blur so I don’t remember exactly when I saw them, but there was a dad and his two daughters. Four men came along and did, uh, things to the girls. They were maybe fifteen or sixteen, just kids, and made their dad watch. Didn’t even kill him. Just left afterwards. Two of them didn’t do anything but one of them looked like he wanted to.” You swallowed harshly. “Heard your footsteps and thought you were part of their group.”

 “What made ya follow me?” Daryl said after a moment.

 “Your voice, the tone of it. Your actions too. They would’ve started sweet-talking me, trying to lull me into a false sense of security. You didn’t do that.” Looking at him with a small smile, you turned back to your food.

 “That’s awful,” Carol said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

 “Unfortunately, it’s not the worst I’ve seen. But thank you.”

 “You done with your food, [y/n]?” Lori asked you. You nodded and she took your plate.

 “I’m gonna introduce you to Hershel,” Rick said. “C’mon.”

 “Don’t leave mommy!” Adeline said as she tried to get out of Dean’s hold.

 “I’ll be right back, baby. Don’t you worry.” You brushed her hair back and Adeline nodded slowly.

 Sam took your plate from you and pushed you towards Rick lightly.

 “Hershel is a veterinarian. He’s been helping heal any wounded. He helped save Carl, my son, and T-Dog,” Rick said as he led you to the house.

 “What happened to Carl?”

 “He got shot,” Rick said. “One of his men was hunting a buck and didn’t see Carl approaching it. Bullet went clean through the deer and hit Carl. He almost died but Hershel saved him.”

 “Any lasting consequences?”

 “Not so far. We’re still making him take it slow, but he should be alright.”

 “Good.” You let out a sigh and Rick opened the door to the house.

 “After you.”

 ---

 “Hershel, this is Sam and Dean’s sister, [y/n]. Daryl found her and Sophia in the woods while searching for Sophia yesterday.”

 “It’s nice to meet you, [y/n].”

 “Nice to meet you too. I heard about what you did to save that little boy’s life. And I am really grateful you’re giving my daughter a safe place to stay.”

 “It was the right thing to do,” Hershel said. You shook your head.

 “The worlds gone to shit, excuse my language. It might have been the right thing to do, but most men wouldn’t have done it. Whatever you need, just ask.”

 “I appreciate it. Have you met my daughters yet?” You shook your head and he introduced you to Maggie and Beth.

 “Patricia and Jimmy are doing some chores around the farm, but I’ll make sure to introduce you to them before dinner. For now, you can use the shower if you’d like. We have hot water, but go easy on it. Maggie, could you show her to the bathroom?”

 “Yes. Follow me.”

 You followed Maggie up the stairs as she led you to a bathroom.

 “Feel free to use whatever shampoo and soap you’d like. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

 “Thank you, Maggie,” you said. “I do really appreciate you letting me use your hot water.”

 “It’s no problem. I’ll leave you to yourself.”

 “Alright.”

 She left, closing the door and you started stripping with a sigh. Turning on the water, you didn’t have to wait long until it was hot. When you stepped under the water, you let out a groan of satisfaction and started washing yourself. It felt good to massage and clean your hair, not having shampooed since the world went to shit. You went as fast as you could, not wanting to use all of their hot water accidentally.

 Stepping out when you were squeaky clean, you toweled off and redressed before walking out of the bathroom. It felt weird being in a house that wasn’t run down and even though you knew it was safe enough, you still wanted to get back outside.

 “That was a quick shower,” Maggie said when you got to the living room.

 “Didn’t want to use all the hot water. I’m known for long showers,” you said with a laugh.

 “Me too. Wish I had the resources to do it again, but we gotta live with what we got. Your brothers are outside and so is Adeline,” Maggie said.

 “Thanks.” Before you left, you turned to her. “I hope we can get to know each other better. You seem like a good person.”

 “I was thinking the same thing. After you get settled, we can talk?”

 “I’d like that.” You both smiled at each other and you walked outside. When you got to the camp, everyone was tense and you could tell that something was wrong.

 “What happened?” You asked, picking Adeline up.

 “Glenn just told us that the barn is full of walkers,” Carol said.

 “It’s what?”

 You walked with everyone to the barn and looked inside with Shane after handing Adeline over to Sam.

 “What the fuck?” You said to yourself. Walking backwards with a shake of your head, you looked at Rick.

 “You can’t tell me you’re alright with this,” Shane said to Rick. “You have Lori and Carl to think about here. There’s the girls too.”

 “I’m not okay with it. But we’re guests. This isn’t our land!”

 “But it’s our lives man!”

 “Be quiet,” Glenn said, glancing worriedly at the barn.

 “We can’t just go about our day and forget about this,” Andrea said.

 “I agree. It’s too dangerous. Something could happen and it isn’t right,” you said to Rick. “I know this isn’t our land but we can’t just let this go.”

 “We gotta go in there. We’ve got to make things right or we need to leave. We can go to Fort Benning.”

 “We can’t leave, Shane!” Rick said.

 “Why?”

 “Because this is a place where these kids can grow up,” Carol said. “[Y/n] agrees with me too.”

 Shane looked exasperated and shook his head.

 “A place where the owner keeps walkers in his barn?”

 “Look, we need to figure this out, but arguing amongst ourselves isn’t going to do any fucking good!” You said angrily. “This needs to be a calm conversation. No accusing, no yelling.”

 “You just agreed with me and now you’re taking his side?” Shane said to you. “If you’re gonna do that, you should just stay quiet. Don’t need the opinion of someone who just got here.”

 “I’m taking no one’s side right now. Yes, we need to deal with the walkers, but we also can’t just up and leave a safe place without talking about it rationally! And it doesn’t matter if I just got here or not, I’m here now so keep that in mind.”

 “Just let me and Rick talk to Hershel,” Sam said. “Let us figure it out.”

 “What are you gonna figure out?!” Shane yelled at Sam. You flinched at his booming voice but steeled yourself and shoved a finger into his chest, anger in your eyes.

 “Don’t you dare yell at my brother like that,” you said coldly. “I don’t care if you’re angry, you don’t get to do that.”

 Shane looked at you and he huffed angrily before rolling his eyes and looking away. Adeline was starting to get a little anxious and reached for you. Taking her in your arms, you tried calming her down.

 “This is his land. If we clear out the barn I’m going to need to talk to him.”

 “Hershel sees those things as people,” Dale said. “Sick people. His wife, stepson. People he cared about.”

 “You knew?” Rick asked him.

 “I talked to Hershel yesterday.”

 “And you waited the night?” Shane accused.

 “I thought we could survive one more night. And we did! I was waiting to say something this morning, but Glenn wanted to be the one to tell.”

 “If Hershel thinks those things are alive, he’s crazy, Rick!” Shane yelled.

 At that moment, the walkers started banging on the barn doors, trying to get out. You took a step back and Sam pulled you slightly behind him as you all looked warily at the barn.

 “We need to take this conversation somewhere else,” you said. “If we keep arguing here, they’re going to get out and cause trouble.”

 “She’s right,” Daryl said. “’Sgo back ta camp.”

 Shane stormed off and the rest of the group followed close behind. You stayed at the back of the group with your brothers. Sam was silent for a minute but kept opening his mouth to say something.

 “You don’t have to defend me against Shane,” he said.

 “If he talks to you like that then I will. You’re right, we need to talk to Hershel about it. But he also has a point, Sam. We can’t just let this go.”

 “I know. When did you get so grown up?”

 “I’ve always been more grown up than you, Sammy,” you said with a laugh. You walked past them and towards camp. Sitting down, you started comforting an anxious Adeline, and Carol came up to you.

 “Thank you for defending me,” she said. “You don’t even know us that well but you still did.”

 “Even though I’ve never met y’all, you took care of my daughter and brothers. I’ve been on my own out there and it’s hell. A safe place is what we need right now and I’ll keep defending you even if that asshole thinks I shouldn’t.”

Carol laughed softly and pulled you close. “Thank you,” she whispered. After a second, she let go and went to the stables.

 Looking around, you scanned the horizons, looking for any threats. The barn full of walkers made you super uneasy and on edge. Your hand never left your knife and you tensed when you heard someone walking up to you. Turning, you saw Dean and you relaxed a bit.

 “Hey,” you said with a smile.

 “How are you feeling?”

 “Uneasy,” you said honestly.

 “Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”

 “Has it always been like that?” You asked Dean. “The two of them yelling at each other?”

 “A little bit, yeah. But it has gotten worse.”

 After a minute of silence, you looked at your brother. “Do they know about what we did before the world ended?”

 “They do. The only ones that don’t are Hershel and his family. He’s a bit religious and doesn’t have the same view on walkers as we do, so we thought it might be best not to let them know just yet.”

 “I think that’s a good idea.”

[chbslove]

i am steter trash so i wrote an au where stiles is a spark that lives in the forest because he killed his dad in an accident back when he was a kid and couldn't control his magic and his moms family was just made up of mages and he is the first one to actually be a born spark with loads of power so she raises him and teaches him everything she knows

and in this au sparks are being hunted and put down like animals so claudia builds a house in the forest with stiles where he can live and study magic on the land of their family and after she dies stiles moves there.

(and yes hes a lot older in this because it makes me antsy to write about eighteen year old stiles and adult peter. sorry. I'm a pussy okay.)

and stiles meets his gang! and scott is a dryad, lydia is a mermaid, jackson and danny are mermen (and jackson and danny are together by the way), i planned allison as a regular human that meets scott on a walk in the woods and falls in love with him later in the story because the hale fire storyline is still happening, and kira is an ancient kitsune who also lives in the forest and is good friends with stiles, and erica, boyd, isaac, liam, theo etc are not there yet but thats cause stiles is pretty alone.

he just minds his own business and takes care of the dryads and meets fairies (who live in the forest) and makes a deal with them that they'll stop screwing around with humans and stay in the forest and he'll protect them and take care of them because sparks are powerful and the fairies appreciate that instead of being afraid of him.

and stiles just does his thing for a couple of years until the fairies go a little bit too far and peter hale, who is stupidly a little too far in the forest on his patrol, gets caught in a storm they cause and gets lost in the woods, and he finds stiles' house and stiles takes him in and gives him dry clothes and then guards him back so peter won't get himself fairy'ed

and then a week passes and stiles is kind of anxious peters family will tell him to fuck off the woods (even though it's stiles' heritage to take care of the forest, the hales just live there) and then: the actual plot

a little apple dryad tells him scott found a dying fairy. this fairy apparently told scott in her dying breath something wolfish killed her, and stiles wrongly thinks peter and his family did that, and he goes to find scott to ask him about it, but scott is just gone. stiles can't find him and gets worried and checks his wards, and when he gets to the wards around the hale property, he meets laura. he asks her if she's seen scott, and she saw him going back into the forest, but stiles still can't find him.

laura leaves and stiles finds the ward to their territory broken, and it stinks like druid, so he figures it was this deaton guy because werewolves aren't sneaky like that.

stiles visits lydia (because he still can't find scott and lydia knows how to calm him down) and finds out jackson and danny saw a monster while making out under the surface of their lake and from then stiles knows that the hales have got nothing to do with this because what lydia describes Is Not a werewolf.

so he gets pissy, and then ultimately is enraged when he finds a dead stag this monster killed, and because he's pissy he visits the hales to tell talia he's rightfully going to kill their emissary for being a bitch and breaking his wards and letting some monster walk his territory.

and talia is all "what the fuck how do i not know you." and stiles is all internally "i see my darling peter kept his promises" and then he's internally like "wait fuck i'm not really in love with this guy am i" and then he's like "oh. OH."

and talia convinces him not to kill deaton because shes awesome and stiles grumpily agrees because... not agreeing would be a dick move and it would mean. War. Basically.

so the hales offer their help looking for scott and stiles finds this monster thing on his search and its a wendigo yay, and scott has been following this thing around for days now because he's a dumbass and wanted to help, and they bro out

and the hales and stiles kill this thing, which means magic action. and stiles is awesome. and everyone knows that now.

what follows is just steter get-to-know-eachother and the hale pack are the biggest wingmen (wingpeople) ever and there's fluff and magic and a lot of flowers because stiles is a person that can't for the life of him say the words "i love you" and gets incredibly anxious when people say "i love you" so he mostly displays his feelings for peter in hanakotoba, the traditional japanese flower language that kira taught him, and peter eventually catches onto that and they get together in a load of angst and fluff and they have sex. because of course they have loads of sex. bold of you to think peter can keep his hands off stiles for longer than a day and likewise.

and there is like a load of stiles/hale pack friendship dynamics because i love them all and then suddenly yeehaw. hale fire.

So paige has already happened in this timeline before stiles and peter met, and derek still meets kate and she does her scum thing and uses him. a bunch of hunters show up to the hale house, shoot them with wolfsbane bullets and gather them so they can burn together.

stiles wakes up in a rush because something bad is happening to his wolves but then his eyes fall closed again and he can't get out of bed for a solid time because someone freaking poisoned him and he's fevering and weak and everything is dizzy, but he forces himself up because something. bad. is happening. to his. wolves. he stumbles into his kitchen and almost dies right there and then, because the poison is wolfsbane and he feels like he got tons of it shoved down his throat by the person that poisoned him. his life starts flashing in front of his eyes and he fights back at it and vomits the wolfsbane out, believes it out of his system and when it's gone, he's just left raging.

because i hate kate, stiles loses control when he meets her at the hale house and kills her. he gets the pack and gets them out of the house, breaks the mountain ash circle and they leave. the hales can't go back to their house because the place is swarming with hunters

and peter and stiles figure out it was deaton who told kate everything she needed to know to set this trap and the mountain ash circle also stinks like druid, so deaton gets revealed as being the bad guy all along. stiles figures that he also poisoned him so he wouldnt interrupt, and that deaton wanted thalias alpha spark. the wendigo was a test and deaton put it there on purpose to see how strong stiles was and if he would care about the hales, because deaton knew stiles would feel the hunters killing them and ever since peter and stiles got together the druid knew he would have to murder him too to get the hales dead.

and stiles is just half feral in his wrath and the aftermath of the wolfsbane poisoning, and derek is sobbing and muttering about this being all his fault, and peter has two bullets stuck in his knees and has to be held up by his niece and his brother-in-law, and every one of them is shot and hurt and crying and talia does her best to comfort derek while shaking as well

and stiles just closes his eyes. takes a deep breath. and takes care of his family-in-law, because fuck if he isnt gonna marry peter after this. he takes them in, gives them clean and comfortable clothes, patches them up, lets them shower, yeets his living room so they have space for a big puppy pile, gives them food and water to drink and then draws a ward around his house that is strong enough deaton won't be able to find them unless he sells his soul to the king of hell.

when he's done with that, he locks the hales in and asks kira to take care of them and make sure they're okay while he's gone. she agrees and stiles goes and because he's angry and kind of more dark than i let slip until now so he just. slaughters the hunters that are left. and he enjoys it.

then he shows up to chris argents house, shocks the living hell out of allison because he's still covered in blood and ash, and goes talk to gerard, who is there for alibi purposes. he just flatly tells the truth and asks gerard how many times they've done this now. and the second the old man lets slip the hales weren't the first, stiles goes full Older Derek Hale Mode and slams him against a wall to threaten the living shit out of the man.

by threaten i mean he says that he'll kill him and there's nothing the guy can do about it, cause stiles will find him, no matter how far he runs. yknow bamf dark stiles shit. i am living for writing this scene right now bye

and then he looks at chris and allison. allison looks scared out of her mind and then she asks if thats true. if her family really did something like that. and chris has to look her square in the eye and tell her through gritted teeth that, altough he didnt know about this, yes, they did that to innocent people.

and stiles looks at chris and gives him a nod, because he knows the guy can get this right, he knows allison is strong and fierce and will be fine no matter what. he looks at gerard and sneers at him in disgust. then he leaves like the dramatic bitch he is, but not without ensuring chris will clean this mess up and make an alliance with talia.

he goes back to the house and the only one still awake is peter, and stiles breaks down completely, covered in blood from head to toe and scared out of his mind too. peter holds him, gently leads him into the shower, and helps him get cleaned up, washes his hair, picks out clothes for him, and they go to sleep together.

then, recovery. stiles organizes therapy for derek because lord knows the boy needs it, he nurses the hales healthy, shows them around in the house, they meet his friends, cora and lydia take a particularly special interest in each other, scott is sad because allison broke up with him but stiles visits the argents and talks to her a lot and they become friends too, and he knows scott will get over her eventually, just as she's getting over him.

and stiles shows the hales his life for a while until everyone is recovered, and then they go back to the hale house that he cleaned up already (because, uh, corpses had to be buried, floors had to be cleaned from blood and the smell of magic and mountain ash had to be erased)

and then peter proposes to stiles and they have a beautiful wedding by the lake where cora can talk to lydia, and derek ends up talking to scott quite a lot because scott is nervous and sweet and falls head over heels for the quiet werewolf, and guess who allison ends up with? nobody. because allison is fucking awesome and in the hunter business and she takes it upon her to start cleaning up the community and goes against hunters that are like her aunt just killing innocent people and a relationship with anybody would just be annoying. maybe she realizes she isnt even into relationships, i don't know that yet. aro ally would be interesting, dude.

And then in the end stiles goes to live with the hales and they mend their territory together so he can still visit his friends and he leaves the house to cora who eventually moves there as an adult so she can live with lydia. he and peter move out as well and they go back to town when stiles is ready, because he's lived so freaking long in the fear someone will hunt him down and kill him for his power, and now everything is peaceful. so he puts down his weapons, stops fighting, and lives happily ever after.

and has loads of sex with peter. just because.

[whumpster-fire]

Athanasia Part 1: The Creature In the Cage

Re-posting this story that started out as a Whumptober 2020 entry because I’ve made a few edits and also I have more content for this OC planned so I want to give her a proper re-introduction.

The character featured here is Tansy, currently anonymous because she hasn’t gotten her name yet in-universe. Link to her refsheet here

CONTENT WARNINGS: Monster whumpee, Animal Whump, Animal Cruelty, Animal Death Mention, Mention of predators being predators, Gore, Infected Wounds, Vomit

The cage is much too small for the little creature trapped inside it. Much too small to leave her in it this long, at least. How long has it been? She doesn’t know anymore, but it has been many, many days, and many, many nights. She is not sure she remembers what grass feels like anymore. It is just barely big enough to turn around in, but she cannot sit up without hitting her head on the ceiling, or stretch her tail out. It is far too small to pace back and forth from one end to the other like she could in the last cage. Her legs are weak from lack of use.

The first night she came to the village, she only hunted the rats and mice and other small vermin. She looked longingly into the windows of the houses, wishing she could be in there with the warmth. But the people didn’t want her. They threw her out long ago. It seemed like the family had loved her at first, but then the preacher told them what she was, and they got rid of her. She came back to the old village once, to see if the children had grown, but a plague had swept across the land and everybody had either left or joined the pits of bones.

For a long time she lived out in the woods, in the wild, but there was less of it with every turn of the seasons, and something drew her to the new village, with its cobbled main street and windows of real glass in the houses, and she thought she could live in humanity’s shadow again.

But the people hadn’t changed. Not at all. She lived off the mice and rats for a while, but one day the hunting horns sounded and hooves thundered and hounds bayed. She wasn’t what the men were looking for, but they set the dogs on her all the same, chasing her down and digging out her burrow and tearing and biting until there was nothing but scraps of fur and bone, which they left in a ditch to rot.

The next night the creature came to the village, she left the mice and rats alone. Let them eat the people’s grain and spread disease among them, she thought. If they hated her, hunted her for sport, then  why should she help them? That night, she went to the henhouse, and she came again every night for a fortnight until the dogs caught her. The people hunted her down again, and chased her up a tree. A man brought out a new weapon that hadn’t existed when she first knew the people, an iron tube that exploded with fire and smoke, and knocked her from the tree. They took her back to the village by force, and strung her up on a gamekeeper’s gibbet with the rotting carcasses of the foxes and stoats and all the other creatures they called vermin.

The night after she chewed through the wires binding her, the creature came to the henhouse again. She ate her fill, and then painted the walls with blood. She left the village alone after that. She didn’t want anything to do with the people anymore. But they hunted her, they searched for weeks before they finally caught her. And they must have figured out that there was only one of her, because that was when they put her in the cage.

She has been in the cage for a long time now. She was a curiosity to them at first, but they never loved her. At first it amused them to hurt her, to shoot her or drown her or build a fire under the cage, but now she is only a nuisance. They moved the cage out of the cellar to the barn after her screeching kept them up at night,  and out of there too when she frightened the horses. So they put her in this smaller cage, barely big enough to turn around in. She hangs from a post in the town square, which is really on the edge of the village by the old dirt road leading to other places. The grass is so close, just a man’s height below her, but she can never reach it.

She cannot get out. She cannot get out. The cage is rusty, but the iron bars are thick, and she has broken her teeth and claws trying to gnaw through them. Her paws are always bloody and scabbed from the rough iron under them. She has been out here for so long, with nowhere to hide from the rain and the cold and the heat of the sun.

People used to come by and feed the creature in the cage and give her water, but they have fed her less and less as time went on. It has been many days since anyone has bothered to do it at all. Her body is weak from starvation. Her ribs stick out, and her skin is loose on her bones. Her coat is dull, and the fur is matted with grime: blood, and the rotten fruit and eggs visitors sometimes throw, and the dust and dirt kicked up from the road, and rust from the bars above her, and the many, many times she has been sick in the cage. It falls through the bars of the floor, but they still get dirty, and there is nowhere else to lie.

The people she hates most are the children. The adults have mostly stopped paying attention to her, except when they are drunk, which is admittedly quite often. But the children think it is funny to poke her with sticks through the bars, or rattle her cage around so it sways, or tease her by holding food just out of her reach. The gaps in the bars are just big enough to fit her paws through, and many days ago she clawed angrily at one of the boys and cut his finger. But he dropped the piece of meat he was taunting her with, and he hit her foreleg with a heavy stick before she could get it back through the bars.

That leg is broken now. It was broken so badly the bone came out through the skin, and she is so weak and hungry that it hasn’t healed. Instead, it is slowly rotting. For many days there has been another cage nearby with a man in it, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to die by being hung in the cage and not fed. For a while he was company, and tried to talk to her. But many days ago he died, and the creature in the cage envies him for it. His rotting body has driven most of the people from the square with its stench, but she cannot get away from it. It has brought more company in the form of kites and crows that pick at his flesh. They try to pick at hers too, but their beaks cannot reach through the bars, except for small wounds they have given her. The body has also brought swarms of flies, buzzing and biting and laying eggs in the creature’s wounds, including where her leg is broken. There is no way to escape from the cruel maggots in the tiny cage. But they are the only thing she has eaten for a long, long time.

Today, they took the dead man away. He was little more than bones and dried-out skin anyway. It is not night yet, but the sky is dark. Thunder rolls and lightning flashes. The creature cowers in her cage, her little heart racing. She has always been afraid of lightning, and there is no escape from it. She flinches with every bolt, afraid it will strike the gibbet. No one is outside in the village but her.

Rain pours down, finally washing her fur. She wants to be clean again, but it is so cold, so terribly cruelly cold. There is nowhere in the cage to get away from the driving rain, and she is soaked to the skin. She wants to drink the rain, because she has had no water for days, but she is shivering, so hard her teeth clatter together, and she is afraid she will bite her tongue and it won’t heal. The shivering is taking all her strength. She curls into a sodden ball of fur, whimpering and begging the storm to go away. The howling wind makes the cage sway violently, tossing her around inside it and beating her against the bars. Lightning flashes off the church steeple, so close that her ears ring.

The wind gets worse, and worse. The rain is going sideways now. The cage sways, and the gibbet creaks. Then, suddenly, it gives way. The cage is falling, and she is falling with it. She splays her paws out and braces herself for the landing. But one of her paws goes through the bars in the cage, and it snaps.

She is hurt, she is broken, but so is the cage. The heavy wooden beam of the gibbet has fallen on it and smashed the iron bars open, nearly crushing her. Freedom is so close. She drags herself through the gap which is really too narrow for her, crying out as the jagged edges catch and tear her skin. She collapses onto the ground, but there is no grass under her. There is only the cold, deep mud the heavy rain has turned the dirt road into. She drags herself through the mud for a few paces, but that is all her starved body can manage before her strength fails her. All she can do is keep shivering, and breathing, and holding her head out of the mud and rainwater, but even those will not last long.

The creature waits for death to claim her there in the cold mud. But then, she hears heavy boots splashing in the puddles, slowly getting closer. She looks up, astonished. Someone is out here after all. A figure in a cloak stands over her, sheltering his lantern from the wind. It is dim, but lightning flashes and illuminates a weathered, bearded face lined with confusion, then sympathy. Pity. He reaches down. The creature hisses, and screams, and snaps at his wool glove. What would a human ever do but hurt her?

“What in God’s Green Earth are you?” the traveler wonders aloud. Then: “What in hellfire did they do to you?”

Lightning flashes again. The wind puts out the man’s lantern as he reaches for her again, but his eyes glow with their own yellow light.

Just like hers.

The creature that was in the cage begins to cry, but she doesn’t stop the traveler from picking her up and bundling her into his cloak. She just shivers, and cries against his chest, pressing herself into the first warmth she has known for many, many years.

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

TUA SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN AU

(please understand that by AU, I mean they share an incredibly small amount of things in common with the original source material which I barely remember BUT the "story" takes place in the setting of the film) (not to be misleading or anything :p)

(Huntsman) Diego has been roaming the dark woods for years, on the run from the two queens. He loves his mother Grace, but she died with Ben - and the person in her body now just isn’t very nice. He’s angry, and bitter, and full of heartache and pain… losing your family will do that to you. But he’s still looking for Five. His beloved husband may be dead, but there’s still hope for their son. Right?

(Gold Queen) The Handler is the gold queen. She believes love is a weakness, and how could she not - her sister Grace ruined herself with love for her children. Then again, she supposes it’s a bit her fault that Grace went mad - the Handler was, after all, the one who killed the child that left Grace a cold, icy bitch.

(Ice Queen) Grace does not believe in love. Any child of hers foolish enough to fall in love will be taught the same lesson she suffered to learn - love is synonymous with death.

Five can’t remember the names of all the people he’s killed. The Handler took him from his mother when he was just a baby - he has no knowledge whatsoever of who she is. The Handler forces him to kill people in her courtyard arena, claiming him as her champion, and he knows he’ll die if he lets her down. She promised to bring him back to his family if he just stays a good little boy and does what he’s told - Five thinks she’s probably lying though. He had a friend here once, Dolores, and the Handler agreed not to make him fight her… and then turned her into a gold statue in the middle of the courtyard, where Five has to see her and be reminded of his failure to keep her safe every single day.

Klaus has been stuck down here for who knows how long. It’s damp and dark and cold and there are bars on the window. Grace dragged him here what must’ve been years ago, probably because she found out about him and Diego - not that it matters. Grace banished Diego, and Five was taken from him long ago. Diego’s probably dead, Klaus knows how it is out there, and his son is also probably dead. There’s only so long for Klaus anyway - he’s been seeing his dead brother Ben lately, and even Klaus is smart enough to know that’s probably not a good sign.

Ben died at the hands of the Handler when he was only fourteen. His death cause Grace to go full psycho, and Ben… exists with that guilt every day as he looks after Klaus, who is slowly going mad. Ben needs to get him out of here, but first he needs to find Diego… and Diego has always made a point of being very, very hard to find.

Allison was one of few children who managed to escape both the queens when the war began. She found a home with a man called Reginald and thought she was saved… but he was just another asshole. He treats her and the other refugees like slaves, knowing they’ll never leave out of fear of the queens’ killing arenas. Ray and Luther are her fellow inmates - and they all want out.

Vanya is a witch, trapped in a cave by the Handler after being stolen from her mother Grace. A selkie named Sissy came to help her settle in her first day, and now collects ingredients for Vanya’s experimental break-out spells. They fell in love, and have a son named Harlan together from Vanya’s magic, but it’s unlikely they’ll ever be allowed to touch, a constant blue shield between them.

Cha-Cha and Hazel are the Handler’s personal generals, and when they learn that Klaus is alive, they take him on orders from the Handler, who knows he’ll be good bait now that Diego is the symbol of the revolution. Agnes is the village healer they force to heal Klaus after they’re done torturing him for information, which he never gives. She detests both of them, and eventually uses her magic to knock them out and set Klaus free.

Eudora is leading a rebellion against the two queens in secret. She has no idea about Reginald, or else she’d go after him too. When Allison kills Reginald, she brings herself, Luther, Ray, and all the other captive young adults to Eudora’s safe haven, where she trains them into soldiers for the upcoming fight. If they don’t want to be soldiers, they train to be healers under Agnes, who tells Eudora of the dead prince being locked in the Handler’s dungeon and tortured, having apparently been imprisoned. Look, Eudora’s not a bad person, she’s just a strategist - and it’s better to have Klaus in captivity long enough for her to get Diego on her side, using his husband’s rescue as leverage.

Lila is the Handler’s personal guard. The Handler believes she has Lila’s complete loyalty, but Lila’s been slipping information to Eudora for years - Eudora, who she’s in love with. Eudora, who kisses like the sky does the ground. Eudora, who will leave Lila to die once she’s no longer of use. Or so she thinks.

The Handler wiped Five’s memory when she took him at five years old, so he doesn’t remember his family at all. She’s hoping nobody comes along and breaks his programming. She’s spent so long on it. It’d be such a shame.

Across the land, Allison serves Reginald dinner. She refills his drink, picks his knife up from the ground, and stabs him through the heart. Then she and Ray and Luther and the others fucking book it.

Diego wanders the woods alone, intercepted only by Eudora, who he locks in awesome battle with before realizing who she is. They smile at each other and she asks him yet again to join her movement, which he refuses. She smiles ruefully and disappears.

Allison and Ray and Luther join Eudora’s cause with the others, Luther quickly becoming their best soldier, Ray their most gifted healer, and Allison equal to Eudora in both physical and mental prowess. Eudora is hunting in the woods one day and runs into Lila, the two of them having a love-at-first-sight moment. Lila hears her name called and runs away, but they remain drawn to each other, even if Eudora can’t shake the mark of gold on Lila’s wrist from her mind.

The Handler starts making threats at Vanya, mostly about Sissy and Harlan. Klaus has forgotten what the sun looks like, but is given a refresher on the moon when Cha-Cha and Hazel break into his cell and steal him in the middle of the night. Ben holds him the whole time, but he’s so scared. So so scared.

Eudora and Lila keep meeting in the woods, mostly by accident. Lila starts telling her things, important things, and one day lets slip that the dead prince Klaus is alive and imprisoned in the Handler’s dungeons, to which he was brought from Grace’s dungeons. Eudora listens, enraptured, and nearly kisses Lila goodbye before remembering herself. This is how she wins Diego.

Diego finds out Klaus is alive from Eudora and is angry at her for using Klaus’ life as leverage, deciding to go see for himself. He overhears some guards talking about it, and is running down to the dungeons when he slams right into someone. They pull back, curse words on Diego’s lips, and Diego is met with Klaus’ wide green eyes, looking at him with some sort of euphoric wonder.

Overjoyed, Diego clasps Klaus’ face in his hands and kisses him. Klaus laughs, loud and bright, and slings his still shackled hands up to loop his arms around Diego’s neck, kissing him again and again and again. Their reunion is interrupted by a loud clang, upon which they realize they’re still in the Handler’s castle. Diego wraps his arm around Klaus’ waist and they run together, but skid to a stop in the shadows in the Great Hall, freezing as they stare across the room at Five, whose memories are slamming back into him as he lays eyes on his parents for the first time in eight years.

Klaus makes for him, Diego not far behind, but just as Five takes a step forward, finally broken from his shock, the sound of the Handler’s stilettos clicking down the hall come from behind. Their eyes meet again, Klaus’ widening as he realizes what Five’s about to do, but Five just shakes his head, mouthing, I love you. He then reaches out with his hand and sweeps them out the door with a snap of his fingers, locking himself inside with the Handler once and for all.

Devastated at the loss of their son, again, Klaus and Diego wander through the night, only settling down once to sleep, Klaus’ head on Diego’s chest. They whisper about their son and each other until dawn, finally rising to continue their journey. Diego manages to use a stick to pick the lock on Klaus’ chains, and they head for Eudora’s camp, Diego finally agreeing to join now that he knows his son is trapped in the Handler’s hold.

With Diego in the fold, Eudora’s army is combat-ready in no time. Eudora makes her way to the woods, waiting for Lila, who has finally agreed to leave the Handler and join Eudora’s cause. But instead of Lila, the Handler comes, having found out about Lila’s little excursions and deciding it was time to put a stop to it. She captures Eudora, taking her back to the dungeon, and starts making the moves to enact her big plan.

Lila finds Eudora’s bow on the ground in the woods and rushes towards her camp to tell Diego the news.

The Handler goes to retrieve Vanya from her cave, ready to use her secret weapon. Sissy screams, trying to stop her, but the Handler shoves her back, Sissy knocking her head on a rock and going limp. Vanya, seeing this and Harlan hiding behind a tree, screams, all of her power letting loose at once and shattering the cave and the curse that traps her in it. The rubble nearly crushes the Handler, but she saves herself with a shield, though not before Vanya is able to escape with Sissy and Harlan, disappearing into the woods.

She makes her home at Eudora’s camp, where Lila now helps lead troops with Diego, scared for Eudora’s life. Klaus helps the healers, and brings them undead soldiers to improve their numbers, desperate to bring his son home. Allison and Ray have an unstoppable magic act, and Luther has his own legion of soldiers to lead. They finally feel they’re ready, marching towards their positions to surround the Handler’s castle, when winter suddenly falls over the land and Grace emerges from the trees, calm and as cold as ever.

Agnes is behind her, trembling. Klaus gently guides her to their side, remembering how she helped him escape. Diego stares down Grace, saddened beyond belief at who their mother has turned out to be. Grace tells Diego she’s disappointed in him - he was her greatest prodigy, the only one she truly believed was strong enough to be a good soldier, the only one who had given up love - an ice blast gathering in her hand, ready for Diego’s heart. And then suddenly, Ben is in front of her, his eyes full of sorrow as he whispers her name - Hey Momma.

Grace’s blast desintigrates in her hand. She stares at the ghost of her long-dead son, tearing up, and falls to her knees as winter extinguinshes into dust around her. She sobs into her hands, apologizing over and over for all she’s done to them, and is shocked when Diego touches her shoulder gently, gazing at her with soulful eyes. Help us win this war, Momma, he says softly. Help us, and all is forgiven. She swallows, and nods, and takes his hand, walking with them into battle.

They march to the castle. Lila saves Eudora from the dungeons, who kisses her through the bars - I knew you’d come for me. Diego is leading one legion up against the back while Allison, Ray, and Luther lead legions in on all other sides. Vanya’s working on breaking down the magical shields the Handler’s put up. The Handler emerges, and the battle is in full swing.

Agnes is knocking out bitches left and right with her wooden cane, and Hazel is punching the lights out of anyone who gets too close. Cha-Cha closes in on Five, who’s caught up in defending Dolores, and strikes him with a spell that’s blocked by Klaus. Klaus, with fire in his eyes, steps in front of a wide-eyed Five with glowing hands and a morbid grin. Not my son, you bitch, he hisses, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Cha-Cha while Five grins and whoops before running off to help Diego.

Eventually it comes down to the Handler in the throne room. Her legions falling, she prepares to oblierate everyone with her powers, but Grace enters the room, ready to stop her. They engage in an epic battle of gold and ice, in which Grace is fatally wounded by the Handler. She uses the last of her power and strength to impale the Handler on an icicle, watching with a smile as Diego brings a battleaxe down on the Handler’s neck, Grace’s eyes fluttering closed.

The kingdoms are reunited under Allison’s common rule. She rules alone, though married to both Ray and Luther, and her siblings make their homes in her court. A statue of Grace spins in the courtyard on the other side of Dolores and Ben, all surrounded by flowers. Eudora and Lila remain unmarried, but travel the world together. Ben still talks with Klaus, who helps organize all the parties at the palace. Diego is the captain of the guard and Five enjoys childhood, though he is also regarded as a fierce warrior in his own right. Vanya and Sissy settle down in the woods with Harlan and Agnes and Hazel stay down in the villages on a farm (they have a lot of cows). They’re all very happy, and very safe. Well, until Leonard the king of tar shows up. But that’s a story for another day.

Oh, and there are dragons. Because reasons.

[pixieungerstories]

The Captive - 2

“You are getting fat faster than your kind usually does,” George observed.

Elly gritted her teeth.  “Maybe if I got to go out and exercise more it would be less of an issue.”

George rolled his shoulders and shook like a dog shedding water.  “Of course you can leave!  You can go anywhere you want, as long as you are back on the property by sundown.”

Elly shivered.  “You ate my cat.”

“I don’t know what happened to your cat,” George protested.  “Besides, it’s not like we have mice, what do you need a cat for?”

“Company?”

That made him snarl, “You are supposed to be here as MY company.”

Elly took a step back.  George fought to get himself under control.  “You just need time to get used to me, treasure, I’m sure we can-”

Elly turned and headed back to the stairs.

“Wait!” George commanded.  

Elly paused on the bottom stair and waited, but she didn’t turn to look at him.

There was an award silence for a moment, then George blew out a stream of air through his nostrils.  “You are right.”

She looked over her shoulder at him.

“I don’t remember your name.”

She turned to look at him, “I’m Elly.”

George nodded awkwardly.  “You are going to need to remind me of that.” He paused for a moment then added, “Elly.”

“I’m the only person you talk to, George.  Try harder.”  With that, she headed upstairs to get ready for the day.

Ben was already in the kitchen, laminating puff pastry.  “Soups today will be chicken and dumplings for the non vegetarians and french lentil as the vegan option.”

“Sounds good, Ben.”

“You ok, Boss?”

Elly smiled weakly at him, “I’m just a little tired.”

Ben grinned, “The storm kept you up too, huh?”

“Something like that.”  Elly mumbled.  “Now are you going to teach me to run the coffee maker or what?”

“What!” he announced triumphantly.  “Go sit down, I’ll bring you a cappuccino.”

They had french toast and coffee together.  Ben always made her breakfast, and technically lunch.  It was just that they staggered their lunch breaks to cover for each other.   He had given up on asking her out when she kept putting him off.

How do you explain to a guy that you can’t be out after dark and that he can’t stay over because the monster in the basement might eat him?  Hell, she couldn’t even become that crazy isolated cat lady.  George hadn’t ever admitted it, but for how guilty he had looked that first morning when she asked if he had seen Mittens, she was sure he was involved in the disappearance.  She had put up signs anyway.  No one had called.

“Elly?”

She blinked at looked up.  “Sorry?  You were asking me something.”

“I was,” he agreed frowning slightly at her.  “But now I’m wondering if you just need the day off.”

She shook her head, “I don’t have anyone to cover for me.”

Ben leaned back in his chair.  “Well, I can run the register and I’m pretty sure the Wednesday morning group could pretty much take care of themselves.  You could always ask to see if any of them want a job as your emergency back up.”

Elly looked down at her plate, “I’m not exactly raking in the big bucks here, Ben.  Honestly, after expenses, my take home is less than yours.  The only reason I’m not folding is the free rent.”

“Shit,” Ben whispered under his breath.  “I mean, I knew it was slow but…”

Elly just shrugged.  “You bring in more customers than the yarn does these days.”

There was a long moment of awkward silence.  “You know if we go out to dinner, I’ll pay, right?”

Elly’s head snapped up and she looked into a pair of worried brown eyes.  She laughed, even if it was a bit on the bitter side.   “Funny thing about that.  There is a long standing clause in the title.  I have to be on the property every day from dusk to dawn.  I can’t go out to dinner with you without losing the business.”

“That doesn’t sound real, Elly,” Ben said softly.

Elly pursed her lips, “Do you have anything in the oven that will burn in the next, oh, say, ten minutes.”

Ben glanced at the clock, “three minutes on the cookies, then I’m all yours.”

Once the cookies were out cooling on the racks, Elly lead Ben up to the attic.  “I hate it up here,” she explained.  “It just feels creepy.”

Ben watched the light bulb flicker, “Bad wiring?”

Elly shook her head.  “I insisted the place be rewired before I moved in.  There was a fire that destroyed most of the property a hundred years ago.  The rest was structurally unsound and had to be demolished.  Somehow this survived,” she pointed at huge bronze plaque

Ben read for a moment.  “Wait.  The king bestowed this land upon your family in 1595.  There wasn’t even a town here in 1595.”

Elly nodded sadly.  “Look, it’s complicated, but-”

“Oh, come on!” Ben protested.  “No one is going to take the farm if you go out for drinks with me!”

Elly looked at the floor and shivered.  “The last time the owner of the house was out after dark, a fire burned down most of the house, and a good chunk of the town.  People died.”  She wanted to say more but she was aware this was sounding crazing all ready, so she turned and climbed down the ladder instead.

“You really believe that?”  Ben asked from above her.  Then he stumbled awkwardly and mostly fell out of the attic, barely catching himself on the ladder.  He looked back up.  “That was weird.  It felt like something pushed me.”

“Come down!” Elly hissed.

“I have to go turn off the light,” Ben protested.

“Come down!  You go bake; I’ll get the light!” she insisted.

The light turned itself off with a click.

“That was weird,” Ben commented.  “Is it on a timer or something?”

“Just go, I’ll take care of it.”

Ben frowned at her.  “Just think about taking a day off.  Even if you have to be here after dark, you can at least go out and see a matinee.  Get some fresh air.  Something.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Ben watched her for a moment then turned and left.  Elly went back up the ladder. She noticed the switch was firmly pointed down and therefore off.   “I have enough issues to deal with.  If you want me to be here, you leave him alone.”  Then she stepped down to the second floor and pushed up the ladder and went back downstairs to have another coffee and set about her day.

----

“Come here.”

“I don’t think so.  I’m fine over here.”

George rolled his eyes then he heaved himself to his feet, “I can come to you, but you are much more nimble than I am.”

Elly grabbed tightly on the hand rail, “Sit down.  I don’t want you close to me!”

George froze, “I want to see your face.  Hold the lantern up then.”

“Why do you care what I look like?” Elly sulked but she did as she was told.

“The boy thinks you are unwell.”

“And?”

“I do not want you to be unwell,” George said patiently.

Elly snorted.  “Why does it matter?  I can’t leave.”

“Neither can I,” George growled.  “That is the arrangement.  I do not leave and hunt you.  You do not leave and abandon me.  You promise to keep me fed and I promise to keep you wealthy.  I am holding up my end of the deal, treas- Elly-” he stressed her name, “you aren’t exactly -”

“I am HERE!” Elly snapped. “I gave up my life and my love to be here.  I did that. I am here.  I don’t have to be happy about it.”

George fell silent and sagged.

Elly watched him looking for the trick.

“If the boy makes you happy, he can stay.  I just don’t want you coming home smelling like him.”

“What?”

“Don’t fuck him,” George quailified. 

Elly blinked, “You don’t actually think I’m a virgin, do you?”

George made a sound of disgust.  “Go.  I am done talking to you now.”  He huffed out a stream of steam and turned his back on her.  Elly fled.

----

It was sometime after midnight when Elly sat bolt upright out of a dead sleep.  She had forgotten to feed George.  She had been angry about not being able to take the day off and then he reminded her she was trapped.   She had been dismissed before she had organized his dinner.  In theory, he would be ok if he didn’t eat for a few days.

But.

Mittens.

Shit.

 She hauled herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs to the shop, then down more stairs to the basement.

The kettle and her cup and saucer was sitting on the walnut table next to the chair.  The room was dark, no electricity down here.  How would she ever get an electrician in?  Tonight though, there was no faint glow coming from George.  She held the lantern up over her head, but the darkness just sucked the light away.

No dragon.

“George?”  Her voice echoed.  The basement shouldn’t be big enough for that.  Then she realized that if he was asleep, maybe waking him wasn’t the best idea.  She crept carefully forward.  Nothing.  She looked over her shoulder and was relieved she could still see the light coming from the doorway at the top of the stairs.  She took a few more steps and found a leather couch with deep button tucks that seemed to match the chair.  Holding the lamp up over her head she could see a large stone arch way further ahead.  Through it there was only darkness.  Elly swallowed and tried to listen for the sound of George’s breathing.

Then her nerve broke and she sprinted for the stairs.

[wondersofdreaming]

Lost Boys - ONE

Characters: August Walker / Captain Syverson / Walter Marshall

Word count: 1.727

Warnings: Cursing. Blood. Bruising. Killing. Murder. Narcissism. Selfishness. Aftercare.

Author’s note: You can all thank @littlefreya for inspiring me to write this. No love interest for now. Let’s see how this goes. This might be my very short-lived introduction to writing in the suspense/thriller genre.

Everything in this story is a figment of my imagination, with inspiration and snippets from the movies ‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout’, ‘Sand Castle’, ‘Nomis/Night Hunter’. This is pure fanfiction. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s not supposed to.

I do now own any of the characters from the movies that I write about in this story. Only the OFC’s are mine.

Tag: @littlefreya @katerka88 

MASTERLIST

Feedback is appreciated. Seriously, please tell me all the good and bad stuff, else I won’t be able to develop into a better writer, if I don’t know what I’m doing right and wrong. I swear I don’t bite.

[TWO] [THREE] [FOUR] [FIVE] [SIX] [SEVEN] [EIGHT] [NINE] [TEN]

He barely moved his head in time before the hook would have smacked him right in the face. He was still falling. The air whizzed around him. He could feel the ground coming closer. He needed to do something fast before he was a splat of human remains. He turned around, so he could see where he was headed - directly into a river, perfect. The icy water enveloped him. He felt the bottom beneath his feet and used it to pummel up to the surface. He heaved in the air. The right side of his face was burning and stinging, the cold river was helping soothe the irritated skin.

The river was picking up speed as he floated down the stream. He needed to swim towards the shore. A fallen tree came towards him. Not being able to avoid it, he dove down, when he came back up he didn’t notice another tree, which hit him on the back of his head, making him woozy, almost to the point of blacking out. Then he was falling again. The impact with the surface made him lose consciousness. The last thing he remembered was a pair of soft hands stroking his left cheek, telling him something in a language he didn’t understand.

He awoke to people talking all around him. Something was plastered to his burnt side; it was smelling terrible. He tried opening his eyes, but they were so heavy, so he went back to sleep. Hoping the people around him weren’t there to kill him.

A few hours later he could open his eyes without it hurting. The room was dark. There were only a few candles lit, not enough for him to see the entire room, but he could see the outline of a person, sitting in a chair next to the door. The person stirred awake when hearing the rustling of sheets from him. A woman came up to his side, his rescuer, as he remembered the soft hand from the riverbank.

She tried saying something, but he shook his head, not understanding a word she was saying. Her long black hair swung as she tried explaining with her hands, arms and body, how she had found him almost drowned, then having brought him to her village and nursed him back to health. He had been out for three days and nights.

He tried sitting up. His ribcage hurt like hell, he had definitely broken a few ribs from the impact with the water, falling down a 30-metre waterfall did that to your body. Breathing was difficult, but he had to get out of there. The woman, petite as she was, was strong enough to push him down flat on the bed. He wasn’t fighting back much due to the pain.

“You, sleep.” She said in broken English, which made him smile. He waited until he could hear her soft snores from the chair, before getting up again. He was naked beneath the blanket. Looking around he found his blood-stained clothes. He groaned, throwing them away. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a neatly stacked set of male clothing on top of a dresser. The shirt hung loosely on him, the trousers fit but were a bit tight on the thigh and crotch area. He just needed to control himself, or he would split them. A pair of black shoes sat beneath the dresser. He watched the woman sleeping soundly before he moved her towards the bed and tucked her in, as a thank you for taking care of him. He wasn’t as cold-hearted as everyone thought he was, or maybe he was, who knew. Sometimes he surprised himself by caring about other people. He was usually a selfish and narcissistic bastard.

The wooden door creaked at the hinges, but the woman was still fast asleep. He walked into the living and kitchen space of the house, over to a window overlooking the rest of the village. A few men were walking around talking loudly. He moved towards the bathroom, where he took a good look at himself. He washed off the muddy and awfully stinking stuff from his face. He was surprised to see that the burned flesh was healing nicely without scarring. His moustache was at least intact, the hair on his cheeks and jawline were growing, so it would soon become a beard if he didn’t get it trimmed. He lifted the shirt and winced at the movement, but he had to see the damage that had been done to his body. He was black and blue, even some shades of purple all over his chest, back and sides. He groaned as he touched the sore spots, moving his torso around to feel if he’d broken any bones. Not yet at least.  He listed quietly out the front door, keeping in the shadows as he moved towards a horse that was tied to a tree.

“Don’t make a sound or you’ll be dinner,” he whispered to the stallion, who looked bored at him. He unknotted the reins and pulled the black horse with him to the edge of the village before he mounted on its massive back. The night was dark, but he had learned how to navigate through the stars, thanks to his astronomy-loving adoptive mother.

He didn’t know how long he rode, the sun slowly creeping its rays in the desert. A few more hours and he would be trapped in a sauna with no food or water. He needed a town fast.

An hour later he spotted some buildings. Thanking his lucky stars, he rode into the market that was slowly coming to life. A few looked nervously at him, while some gave him lusty looks. They weren’t used to foreigners there. He tied the horse to a post and walked towards the only young man at the market.

“You speak English?” He asked.

“Only a little, sir,” the young man answered.

“Good enough. How much is the horse worth to you?”

The young man called an older man with a hunched bag to him. They talked and examined the black stallion.

“It is worth too much,” the young man stated.

“You can have it for food, water, a car and some gas.”

“Are you sure, mister? That horse is a racing horse, you could buy many many houses in the big city.”

“I need food and water for at least one week. What kind of cars do you have here?”

The young man sighed and called a few women to gather all the necessities that he demanded. He was provided with a jeep, which had seen better days, but he was assured it was the best car there was in the village. Four women came bearing baskets on top of their heads filled with food and drinks. He definitely wouldn’t starve.

“Which way to Pakistan?” He asked. The young man pointed north-west. Then he was gone without looking back at the confused looks from the villagers. He grabbed an orange and peeled it while controlling the wheel with his knees. He almost groaned as the sweet juices filled his mouth.

He drove for two days straight, not bothering to stop for sleep. He was trained to stay awake for more than four days before fatigue would hit him. He preserved his energy by not thinking, just letting his mind go blank and concentrate on the sandy road ahead of him. He crossed the border to Pakistan by breaking the necks of the border control there. They didn’t know what hit them before they all laid dead on the sand. He had gathered their ammunition and moved his supplies into their newer military jeep. He set the old jeep on fire so as to leave no trace behind. Then he was on his way to Iran, where he did the same to the border control there - he shot them all, took their supplies and continued his journey. Leaving everything burning to the ground.

He had to cross Iraq to get into Jordan, and from there to Israel, where he had an acquaintance that could help him get into Europe, so he could hide in plain sight, planning his next move. Everyone must be thinking that he had died while fighting Ethan Hunt. He smiled to himself, hoping to meet that little bastard again and wringing his neck, or maybe torture him for a few days. He loved playing with his victims to get the information he needed out of them. He loved the cat and mouse game, but the torture game was his favourite.

Another town came into view. It was midday, the market would be bustling with people, no one would notice him if he was stealthy enough. He was towering over the men and women there, but no one gave him a second glance, having gotten used to having American military walking around them all the time. He followed some soldiers to their base, needing to steal more ammo, having used everything, when he crossed the border to Iraq. He might have gone a bit overboard with the shooting, but there were more people there than at the other border control stations, he had no choice. He had never felt so alive to be shooting mercilessly, without having to care about the clean-up, because nobody would suspect him, not until he showed the world that he was back with a vengeance. Until then, he would do whatever the fuck he wanted.

He snuck inside a building behind a few soldiers. They went to another room to clean their rifles. He listed closer, staying near the wall and in the shadows. He was about to pounce on the two unsuspecting soldiers when a large hand landed on his right shoulder. He let out an irritated groan.

“Hands where I can see them,” a deep gruff voice boomed behind him. He slowly raised his arms, almost wincing from his broken ribs. “Turn around, slowly.”

He moved 180 degrees, looking down. The soldier before him wore heavy army boots, camouflage cargo-trousers, a Black Sabbath t-shirt in black, then his beard came into view and the rest of his face. His eyes widened as he was looking into a mirror image of himself.

“Who the fuck are you?” The bearded soldier threatened, before tackling him to the ground.